Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Prime
by lyokoMARVELanime
Summary: While searching the Debris Belts, Kira finds something else along with the life pod Lacus was in. How will the presence of a familiar Autobot Scout and his allies affect the lives aboard the Archangel? And what terrors will the Cosmic Era face when the war that began on a distant metal planet comes to Earth in the midst of the Bloody Valentine War?
1. 1: Gundam Meets Autobot

_**I cannot believe it. I look for what seems like ages and there are barely that many crossovers with any Gundam series and Transformers! Seriously guys, how can you not see this happening? Giant alien robots and giant robot machines that humans pilot, its not like that's a hard thing to come up with a story for! Well I'm done ranting on that. Anyhow...**_

_**I do not own Gundam SEED, SEED Destiny, or any of the Transformers franchises. **_

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**Chapter 1: Gundam Meets Autobot**

Space, the final frontier. The vast ever expanding realm of planets and star which humanity has only just barely seen a small percentage of, and in a certain part of Earth's orbit, the home of humanity's largest collection of trash, known to humans, whether they be Naturals or the new breed of humans called Coordinators since they first traveled into space. And despite this, it is among this collection of old parts from ships, satellites, and other various items that we find a single, white ship that appeared to have a pair of legs extending from the front of it. It is known as the Earth Forces experimental warship, _Archangel_.

Despite the limited amount of time it had in actual battle, the mighty _Archangel_ and its limited crew and refugee passengers of the now destroyed space colony Heliopolis had survived quite the ordeal, thanks in no small part to the efforts of one such refugee now pilot, Kira Yamato, a first generation coordinator. Kira and the others knew full well that the Coordinators were the ones that the Earth forces were fighting against in the war, but that did not matter as he was now the only one able to pilot the mobile suit aboard the _Archangel_ that was known as X105-Strike.

Ever since the moment he had accidentally stumbled upon the machine that he had come to call a Gundam, Kira had faced off against the elite Z.A.F.T. forces unit known as the Le Creuset team and hated every moment of it as he had decided to live in Heliopolis and its homeland nation of Orb because it was neutral in the war. Though since his friends were aboard the _Archangel_ and going so far as to even volunteer to help with the ship's operations, Kira knew he had to help out since he had the power to make a difference in whether or not the ship would make it. Sadly, they now faced a serious problem which was why they were now in the Debris Belt.

Though they were able to survive the attacks that came their way, the _Archangel_ needed to resupply and it desperately needed water. Knowing this, they decided to make a detour through the Debris Belt on their way to the Earth Forces' Lunar Headquarters. It was there that they discovered the only source of water was the ruins of Junius Seven, which had drifted into a stable orbit in the Debris Belt, and they soon found they had no choice but to take the water from there. No one was pleased with doing this, as Junius Seven was known to be the largest cemetery you would ever find, and the largest memorial ever created throughout human history in Space.

While teams were retrieving the supplies and water, Kira was standing by in the Strike, which was equipped with the equipment known as the Aile Striker pack, keeping watch in case of enemy attack. During this time he spotted a Z.A.F.T. surveillance suit searching the ruins for something, and it spotted one of the transports gathering supplies. It moved to engage, which gave Kira no choice but to shoot it down, destroying the surveillance suit. He barely registered the team's thanks as he lamented over the fact that he just had to take a life again. Kira was screaming at himself and at whoever was piloting the unknown Z.A.F.T. suit that they just had to turn and look when they could have just left. There was no reason for that to have happened and yet it did and he could not do anything to stop it.

As he continued to lament on this, the Strike's sensors picked up a distress signal. Using the computer, Kira located the source and discovered a one person life pod. "What is a life pod doing way out here," Kira wondered aloud.

Kira maneuvered the Strike to grab the life pod and carry it back to the ship. As he was returning though, he picked up another signal, but this one was one he did not recognize. After analyzing it for a moment, he believed it was either another distress signal or a life sign of some kind, and he moved to investigate it. What he found was not what he expected. There, floating amongst the debris was something that looked very much like a mobile suit, but at the same time it was nothing like anything Kira had ever seen. It was colored mostly yellow with black stripes, and it seemed to have things that were common among typical cars and other similar vehicles such as wheels and a set of small wings on its back that looked like they could be doors, but the most interesting thing to Kira were the machines eyes. They were darkened, completely blacked out, almost like they had lost their light, or they were now devoid of life. "What is this thing," Kira wondered aloud once more.

Kira then brought the Strike closer to the large robot and as soon as the mobile suit touched the machine's hand Kira felt as though a surge of energy just suddenly sparked through the Strike's hand into the robot, and that he could feel what he could only describe as a light pulse from the inside of his cockpit which he somehow knew came from the large machine. He did not know why, but he knew that this thing should not be left out there in the Debris Belt to float with all the junk that had collected their and the obvious graveyard. What he found more surprising was the fact that he could somehow tell that whatever this thing was it was most definitely alive.

* * *

Sometime later, Kira had brought both the life pod and the large yellow robot back to the _Archangel_. "You certainly have a thing for picking up things that others leave behind," Ensign Natarle Badgiruel commented to Kira, referring to when Kira brought the Heliopolis life boat aboard, and now this life pod and the large machine that was sitting out of the way, close to where the Strike was currently docked. They then moved to open the pod, and out came a small, sphere shaped robot that was saying, "Haro. Haro. Lacus. Haro."

As everyone simply stared at the small pink robot, another female voice said, "Thank you. I truly appreciate your assistance."

They all looked to see a lovely young woman about the same age as Kira and his friends in a very elaborate dress, with bright blue eyes and a joyous expression that seemed to give off an impression that she could find hope anywhere even when things seemed hopeless. The sight of this girl alone entranced Kira so much that he dumbly reached out to stop her momentum in the zero gravity environment. "Thank you," she said.

"Uh…no problem," Kira replied while continuing to stare at her like he had never seen anything like her before. She simply smiled at him and then noticed the symbol on the sleeve of his uniform jacket and exclaimed, "Oh my. This wouldn't happen to be a Z.A.F.T. ship would it?"

A short time later, they learned that the young girl was actually Lacus Clyne, the daughter of Siegel Clyne, the PLANT Supreme Council Chairman, and the little robot was her pet robot Haro, who she also called Mister Pink. Knowing this, they realized that though they had solved the problems of their supplies, they now had a new problem. With the daughter of the PLANT leader aboard their ship, it meant that as soon as they arrived at the Lunar Base, she would be treated as leverage against the PLANTs, essentially becoming a hostage. This did not sit well with Captain Ramius or Lieutenant La Flaga, however Ensign Badgiruel reminded them that Kira and his friends were only civilians and yet they were allowed to see classified military secrets by working on the ship and piloting the Strike. Both the acting captain and the mobile armor pilot could see that Natarle had no problem with handing Lacus over, but at the same time they could not deny her words.

"Still that leaves one thing unanswered," Mu commented. Both women turned to him when he mentioned that. "I'm talking about the large yellow robot that the kid brought aboard. I mean haven't you heard what Murdoch and the other engineers were saying about it? It was like nothing they'd ever seen before. They couldn't even identify what the metal that thing's made of is."

"That's impossible," Natarle argued. "If it was found in the Debris Belt that should mean that it was something that humans made right?"

"I'm not so sure about that," Murrue replied. "The first mobile suits that the Earth Forces ever created were the G-Weapons, and we know for a fact that Z.A.F.T. never created anything like that. No one has ever even thought of creating a machine like that."

"Yeah and don't forget what Kira said after he brought it in," Mu commented. "It was something about how its eyes were dark, like they were meant to be lit up with a spark of life or something like that."

The mystery of this large yellow robot would remain that for some time, as the _Archangel_ had received a transmission from the eighth fleet that they would be sending a small fleet out to meet up with them. Shortly afterwards, the advance fleet came under attack by the Aegis and Le Creuset's ship, which forced the _Archangel_ to accelerate and deploy the Strike and La Flaga's Mobius Zero mobile armor to counterattack. During the attack Flay Allster came to the bridge with Lacus literally in tow with a simple declaration.

"I will kill this girl. I swear I will kill this girl unless they stop attacking my dad's ship. Go ahead and tell them," Flay all but shouted, because she knew for a fact that her father, who was the Atlantic Federation Vice Foreign Minister, was aboard one of the advance fleet's ships, and the look on her face showed she was not joking.

However, that was going to be more of a problem, as a moment later, the sound of an explosion was heard, and the ship shook violently. A moment later, what looked like a large blue and gold F-35 Lightning II fighter jet appeared and launched a barrage against the _Archangel_ and a moment later it spun around as it flew around the ship and changed into large, mobile suit sized robot with armor that was the same color, its wings extending down from its back, a gold faceplate, and red eyes that screamed that it was not friendly or in a good mood. It then pulled a large gun from its back and pointed it at the _Archangel_'s bridge. "Human vessel, release the Autobot in your custody or be terminated," the large mechanical man demanded.

Everyone was completely shocked by this development, even the Z.A.F.T. forces as the battle had halted completely with the arrival of this large metal man's appearance. They could all do nothing more than stare in awe at the strange being that had suddenly appeared and threatened the _Archangel_, aside from Rau Le Creuset himself who was simply intrigued by the new development. The shock was so great that no one in the _Archangel_'s hanger even noticed when the eyes of the ship's mystery machine suddenly began to spark slightly and finally light up with a bright blue glow.

"What the-," Murdoch shouted when a loud bang was heard. He then turned and saw the large yellow robot banging on the door to the launch bay, and then it started beeping rapidly like it was talking fast or something. Before anyone knew it, the robot raised its arm and changed it into a twin barrel gun like he was going to blast his way out.

"Whoa hey wait a minute big fella!" Murdoch shouted. The large robotic man seemed to understand, because he turned to the engineer and trilled for a moment and seemed to act like he was begging him to open the door. Murdoch did not know for sure if that was what their mystery guest who just woke up wanted, but he did not want to risk the big guy damaging the ship if it was and he did not help. "If you want out I can just open the door for ya,"

As soon as the doors were open, the large robot trilled something that sounded like a battle cry of some kind and then changed into something that seemed to be a futuristic muscle car. The machine revved its engines and charged off down the catapult and into open space. Once it was out in space, the titan aiming at the _Archangel_ turned and smirked at the sight. "Well this is a surprise. The Autobots' most famous scout, floating through space at my mercy. I will enjoy extinguishing your spark in the name of my master," he declared as he raised his gun towards the yellow vehicle.

"What," Kira shouted. "Why would they do that?! Why would they launch out that thing if he's what this guy wants?!" He knew this vehicle was the robot he brought in, but he did not know how he knew.

Then, to his shock, the vehicle changed its form into the robot, and the robot spun around as it raised its right arm and changed it into a blaster once more. This time however, it fired a couple of shots at the enemy unit. Despite the fact that he clearly was not meant for aerial or space combat, the yellow machine was able to hold his own as he took advantage of the zero gravity environment and nearby debris of other ships to avoid his enemy's fire. Though it seemed everyone would only watch as the two metal titans fought, but soon enough the fighting began again and everyone on the _Archangel_'s bridge was reminded of Flay's declaration. It soon became irrelevant however, as the ship her father was on was soon destroyed by the enemy ship. Flay was thrown into shock at the sight, and Natarle could no longer sit still now.

"Attention Z.A.F.T. forces, this is the Earth Forces warship _Archangel_. Currently aboard our vessel in protective custody is PLANT Supreme Council Chairman, Siegel Clyne's daughter Lacus Clyne," the ensign said into the communications microphone. "If you do not cease your attack and withdraw, we will consider your actions to suggest that you do not care for her safety."

When he heard that, the Z.A.F.T. pilot of the Aegis, Athrun Zala, was furious at this, and he was not alone in this. The large yellow robot seemed to be angry as well, but as he turned and started to let out a beep that would sound like a growl he then let out a sound that sounded like a cry of pain as he clutched his chest. The large blue man then had a look of recognition at this, as he saw the area where the scout, as he had called his opponent earlier, was clearly damaged. "You are wounded," he commented aloud.

The yellow robot trilled a moment as though it were saying so what, but then adopted a look of surprise as the enemy machine place his large rifle like cannon away. "I am an honorable warrior, and though I wish to end your kind to avenge my brother, I will not fight a wounded warrior," the gold faced robot proclaimed to the scout as he turned to leave. "But rest assured, the next time we meet we will finish this."

He then changed into a jet once more and flew off, but not before receiving two transmissions. One a call from his allies that requested they rendezvous as soon as possible, and the other came from the Z.A.F.T. ship commanded by Le Creuset in which the masked soldier said, "I believe we have a common enemy and much to discuss. I believe we should meet."

Kira watched as Athrun and the Aegis returned to the ship and then turned to look towards the yellow robot and saw that it seemed hurt just like the blue one who turned into a jet had said. Now he was more than curious, and he noticed that the metal man was waving to him as if saying he would like some help. He maneuvered the Strike so that he could pull the yellow robot back to the _Archangel_, where he knew they were going to try and get some answers from this machine.

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_**AN: If you have not figured out who the Archangel's newest guest is then you are an idiot. Seriously how many Transformers do you know of that are yellow and cannot speak except through a series of beeps? Anyhow...The Archangel's crew and that of the Vesalius learn of the two mysterious visitors that have appeared before them. What secrets do these metal giants hold, why are they here, how many others of their kind are now among humanity, and just what will happen if either side of the conflict ends up in an alliance with the wrong ones? Next time on Mobile Suit Gundam SEED: Prime...His name is Bumblebee. Learn what you can from your new ally Gundam! Please read and review.**_


	2. 2: His Name is Bumblebee

_**I do not own anything in either of the Gundam or Transformers franchises, and thanks to those of you who have either viewed and/or reviewed chapter 1. You guys rock! Oh and in case anyone was wondering, the Transformers will primarily be that of the Transformers Prime continuity with a few differences such as additional Autobots and Decepticons so keep a lookout for that.**_

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**Chapter 2: His Name is Bumblebee**

After making sure that Lacus was escorted back to her room and Flay was taken to the medical ward by Sai, Murrue headed for the hangar with Mu and Natarle for the same reason nearly the rest of the entire ship was headed there for: meeting their mysterious robotic guest who had just saved their lives from someone that was most likely one of his kind. The two commanding officers of the _Archangel_ and the mobile armor pilot were all curious about this large metal titan that Kira had found in the Debris Belt, and they all had at least a mountain of questions to ask. What they found when they arrived in the hanger gave them one more question to add to the list.

The large yellow robot was sitting on the ground with his back against the wall, and Kira was near the large hole in the robot's chest trying to fix it. The strange thing was it seemed like the metal man was in pain, like someone who was suffering from a serious injury. "Easy big guy, I'll have you fixed up in no time," Kira told the large metal giant soothingly, like a doctor would to a patient.

"Kira what is going on here," Natarle asked. As soon as the robot heard her voice though, he let a low buzz that sounded like a growl as he moved a slight amount and raised his right arm as it changed into a blaster. All at once everyone was shouting for him to calm down as Murrue moved in front of Natarle, who backed up clearly frightened. Then large machine let out a series of beeps that seemed as though it were speaking, clearly upset about something involving the ensign, but no one was entirely sure what any of it meant. It was not until the large machine man started clutching the left side of his chest, once again seemingly in pain, that he finally lowered his weapon.

"It's okay," Kira told him. "No one is going to hurt you."

The robot looked at Kira with an angry look and trilled out another series of beeps that seemed to indicate he was annoyed, but this time he made a few movements with his arms and hands. He started by pointing to Natarle, then moved to show his arms in a position like they would be if he were wearing handcuffs, and swung his arm down as though saying something was not right.

Kira thought for a moment then asked, "Are you upset about what Ensign Badgiruel did when she used Lacus to get Z.A.F.T. to stop attacking us?"

The robot nodded with an affirmative beep, and Kira smiled at this and told him, "I know, I didn't like it either."

Murrue then stepped forward slowly as the robot lowered his weapon and changed it back into a hand, while Kira reassured him that he could do what he could to fix him up, and told him, "I'm Lieutenant Murrue Ramius, captain of the _Archangel_, the ship you are currently aboard. Would you mind if we ask you some questions?"

The robot shook his head no to say that he did not mind and gestured with his hand to say go ahead. Murrue nodded and then asked one of the most obvious questions. "Can you speak, or communicate in a way we can understand?"

The robot gave off a sad sounding beep as he shook his head no. He continued to beep as he gestured to his neck trying to get his message across. It did not seem to get much further beyond no until Kira asked, "Was your voice damaged in some way?"

The robot nodded in reply to that. Murrue apologized for her asking about it, but the robot simply beeped while shrugging it off as if to say that it was alright and she did not know. Murrue smiled at that when she saw that his eyes had adopted a gentle and understanding look, even though it was still somewhat sad. "What are you," she then asked.

Before he answered, the robot turned to Kira and trilled out something again, this time sounding like a question. Kira looked at the metal man and said, "Don't worry; I think you'll be alright. I've patched you up as best I could, but it might help if we find someone who can make sure you stay that way."

The large machine nodded in thanks at that and then stood up, but then gained a shocked expression as he turned to Kira again and trilled out another question. Kira just shrugged in response and then got the attention of everyone in the room. "Kira can you understand him," Mu finally asked.

"Yeah but I'm not sure how," Kira replied. "It's like I just know." Either way it seemed to give the large robot a great relief as he let out a beep that sounded like a sigh of relief. Even so, he continued with what he was doing before and changed himself into the same futuristic muscle car as before and then back again, and then trilled out an answer for Kira to translate in case he did not get his message across.

"He says he's a Transformer, from the planet Cybertron," Kira told them.

"So you're an alien," Mu asked. The robot nodded in reply as he made a gesture to say exactly.

"Why are you here? What happened just now," Murrue asked.

Kira felt that there was a more important thing that they needed to say and ask. He turned to the large machine and asked, "Who are you? What's your name?"

The large robot let out a series of beeps and trills in response to which Kira gave a confused look before asking if he had heard the metal man right. When the giant nodded in response, Kira turned to the others and said, "He says that he's a member of the Autobot unit known as Team Prime, and he's known as the Autobot scout, Bumblebee."

Everyone looked at him in disbelief, before Mu had tried and failed to suppress a laugh that came out as a snigger as he commented, "Seriously?"

This seemed to get Bumblebee a little mad as he lowered himself with a fist clenched and trilled out something that sounded like "You got a problem with my name?" Mu just raised his hands in surrender and apologized saying that he meant no offense. Bumblebee then looked to Kira and trilled out a question to him. Kira rubbed the back of his neck and replied, "Oh my name's Kira, K-Kira Yamato."

Bumblebee then trilled out something again to which Kira smiled and replied that it was nice to meet him too. Murrue smiled for a moment as well before repeating her previous two questions to Bumblebee. Bumblebee then adopted a somber look and let out a sad sounding serious of beeps. Kira then told her that Bumblebee said he would rather not talk about anything that would be an answer to the first question. Natarle was not okay with this, but before she could say anything Mu put a hand on her shoulder and shook his head saying not to press the issue right now.

Bumblebee then let out another series of beeps in answer to the second question. Kira nodded and then translated saying, "He said that we were just attacked by the Decepticon warrior Dreadwing. He was after Bumblebee because he is angry with the Autobots for killing his twin brother Skyquake in battle."

"So he and these Autobots are soldiers," Natarle asked. Bumblebee nodded in response.

"And I'm guessing these Decepticons are an enemy military force," Mu then commented. Bumblebee simply nodded in response with a sad sounding beep of confirmation.

Murrue then turned to Bumblebee and told him, "I know we can't thank you enough for saving our lives just now, but all the same thank you Bumblebee. I know you will probably want to rest, but can I ask you to help defend our ship, at least until we rendezvous with the Eighth fleet?"

Bumblebee seemed to pause for a moment before nodding and giving a response that Kira translated to mean that he would help, but only if Dreadwing or another Decepticon were to attack. Everyone seemed to accept that, with the exception of Natarle of course, and started to disperse. Once everyone had left, Bumblebee sat down again and looked to see Kira was still there, but he had a sad look on his face. Wondering what would have his new friend upset, the scout trilled out the obvious question of what was wrong before Kira looked up and answered Bumblebee, telling him about the war between Z.A.F.T. and Earth, and why everyone on Earth's side seemed to hate the coordinators.

Bumblebee sat quietly and listened to Kira's explanation about his world's current history and state of affairs with their war, and did not say anything until Kira mentioned that he was a Coordinator and the only reason he was fighting right now against his own kind was because he was from the neutral nation of Orb and had to pilot the Strike because he was the only one who could now and he wanted to protect his friends who were aboard the ship. Bumblebee looked down at Kira and told Kira in his usual series of beeps, **_"There's nothing wrong with that Kira. Fighting just because you can is bad yes, but fighting for a reason is always a good thing, especially if that reason is because you want to protect someone."_**

"But I failed to keep my promise to Flay," Kira said sadly. "I couldn't save her father, and not only that but I'm having to fight against my childhood friend Athrun Zala. He was the pilot of the Aegis, the red mobile suit. We were friends before the war but had to go our separate ways when he had to move. I don't know why he joined Z.A.F.T. aside from the fact his mother had died on Junius Seven. But I don't want to fight against my friend."

Though Kira could not see his face completely, Bumblebee was giving the young Coordinator a gentle smile as he told him, **_"You know you remind me a lot of my commander, and the leader of all the Autobots, Optimus Prime."_** Kira gave the Autobot scout a look that indicated he did not understand so Bumblebee clarified, **_"Before he was a Prime, Optimus was a simple data archivist, or librarian as you humans would say, and he and the Decepticon leader Megatron were like brothers to each other. However, Optimus soon learned that their ideals were not the same and the two became enemies. Despite that, Optimus still does not enjoy fighting someone he once called brother, and still holds out hope for Megatron to see the error of his ways one day."_**

Kira smiled at the knowledge that Bumblebee thought he was a lot like someone that the scout clearly looked up to and thought of in high regard. He then said goodbye to the scout for the moment and went to check on Flay and the others while Bumblebee took a small stasis nap.

* * *

During this time, Z.A.F.T. was making a new friend as well. The Decepticon Dreadwing was meeting with Rau Le Creuset and Athrun Zala in the hangar of the Vesalius. The large gold face plated Decepticon regarded the humans with a slight scowl for a moment before adopting a more neutral expression and asking, "Whatever you want humans, make it quick."

Le Creuset nodded with a smile as he asked, "First off, who and what exactly are you?"

"I am called Dreadwing. I am a proud Decepticon warrior, loyal to my lord and master Megatron."

"Oh," Le Creuset queried in response. "And I take it you are an alien warrior?"

"Yes," Dreadwing confirmed. "I am from the planet Cybertron."

"Then why are you here," Athrun blurted out. He realized he probably spoke out of line and quickly said, "I'm sorry I did not mean to speak out of turn."

"It is alright. I understand your frustration," Dreadwing told him. "Tell me though you are the one who piloted that," he asked as he indicated the Aegis. Athrun nodded in reply. "You are a skilled warrior then. What is your name?"

Athrun looked to Le Creuset who nodded as if to say it was alright, and then answered, "Athrun Zala."

Dreadwing nodded in response and continued with his explanation. "If you are wondering why I am here it is because I was separated from my unit aboard the Decepticon warship the _Nemesis_ like the Autobot scout who is now aboard your enemy's ship. My mission is to regroup with my fellow Decepticons and Lord Megatron so that we may end our long war against the Autobots once and for all."

Le Creuset smiled at that and told him, "Well perhaps we can help you with that. Our orders are to pursue and destroy the legged ship, the enemy ship that your Autobot scout came from, and perhaps we can give you a place to rest here aboard our ship, perhaps even ally ourselves with your Decepticons."

Dreadwing scoffed at that. "What can you humans offer the Decepticons or Lord Megatron?"

"We can give you a way to counter the human element that the Autobots no doubt now have, and our mobile suit technology allows us to be able to fight on par with others of your kind. I'm sure that your Lord Megatron can understand the need for additional soldiers in war."

Dreadwing looked down in thought before looking back up at Athrun and Le Creuset and saying, "I shall accept your aid for now, however any alliance formed between our two forces can only be decided and finalized by Lord Megatron."

Le Creuset nodded in understanding at that and then moved to leave. Athrun lingered for a moment regarding Dreadwing, as the large Decepticon did the same with him. The two gazed at each other for a long time before Dreadwing decided to ask Athrun about his world's history to which Athrun decided to answer by giving him everything from his point of view.

* * *

Sometime later, Bumblebee was awakened from his stasis nap by the sound of hushed voices. He looked around and saw Kira and another boy and two girls, one of which was in a space suit like Kira was, sneaking in. He then moved as quietly as he could and moved to where the four were. When he was close enough he let off a series of beeps asking, **_"Kira what's going on? What're you doing?"_**

"Shh, Bumblebee keep quiet," Kira hushed the scout. The other three people were staring at him in awe, while the girl in the pink suit, through the helmet of which Bumblebee could see pink hair and bright blue eyes, seemed slightly frightened of the scout.

Bumblebee did not move back to where he was, Kira sighed and told the scout, "Bumblebee, this is Lacus Clyne. I'm taking her back to the Z.A.F.T. ship. She's just a civilian and I did not rescue her so she could be used as a hostage."

Bumblebee stared at Kira and the pink haired girl for a moment before he nodded in understanding and said, **_"Well then why are we waiting around here? Let's get her home."_**

Kira looked on in surprise at Bumblebee and nodded with a smile and thanked Bumblebee. He then turned to the others and said, "It's okay. Bumblebee said he's going to help."

The girl in the space suit smiled and then looked at the scout and said, "Hello Mister Bumblebee. My name is Lacus Clyne. Thank you for your help." Bumblebee nodded and then walked away so he could move onto the catapult deck after Kira and the Strike had launched.

A few moments later everyone was now becoming aware of what Kira and Bumblebee were up to, but it was too late to stop them as Kira had already launched with Bumblebee racing off not too far behind in his vehicle mode, transforming into robot mode to use the debris to follow after Kira. Kira then contacted the Vesalius to tell them that he had Lacus and he would hand her over to Athrun. They waited for a moment, until finally the familiar red mobile suit that is the Aegis appeared.

Bumblebee watched from his position nearby hidden by some nearby debris as the Strike raised its rifle and communicated with the Aegis. He could not hear what they were saying at first, but being one of the Autobots' finest scouts he did not need to in order to know. He saw the cockpits of the two machines open up and saw the exchange take place. He noticed that the Aegis pilot was not making any further attempts to leave, when his auditory receptors, which heard things much better than human ears, heard the Aegis pilot, whom he assumed was Athrun, shout out, "Kira, you come with us too! There's no reason for you to remain with the Earth Forces ship!"

For a while Kira said nothing and began to worry that Kira was considering Athrun's offer until he heard Kira shout out, "Believe me, I want to go with you. I don't want to fight you, but there are people on that ship who need me. They are all really good people that I care about, and if I don't stay and protect them then there's a chance they will die, so I can't leave them. My friends are on that ship!"

Though he did not enjoy hearing Kira say that he could not go with his friend, Bumblebee was proud of Kira for wanting to stay and protect his friends. He then heard Athrun shout out, "Then I've got no choice Kira. The next time we meet I won't hesitate to shoot you!"

"Same goes for me," was the sad reply Kira gave as the two mobile suits close their cockpits again and moved away from each other. A moment later a Z.A.F.T. GINN appeared, this one seemed heavily customized, and not long after, Mu's Mobius Zero appeared.

Both Kira and Athrun were shocked at this, but neither one could argue the statements of either commanding officer. Bumblebee then noticed a familiar color scheme of a certain Decepticon nearby and quickly transformed his right arm into a blaster as he moved to a better firing position for the inevitable attack by the Con. Then he heard communication from the Aegis, but it was not from Athrun. "Commander Rau Le Creuset are you really planning on starting a battle in the presence of a memorial representative such as myself," Lacus questioned.

Both sides stopped their assault, as the two sides moved to return to their respective ships. There was only one exception, and his name was Dreadwing. "They may not wish to, but I have some unfinished business that involves that mobile suit," the Decepticon declared as he flew up and leveled his gun.

There were multiple cries from both sides for Dreadwing to stop his assault, but they fell on deaf ears or audio receptors in this case. But just before he could though, Dreadwing was hit with a couple of shots. He turned to the source and saw Bumblebee standing there with his blaster armed and charging up to fire another shot at the enemy unit, giving a clear warning that Dreadwing should retreat now unless he wanted to go another round with the Autobot scout right then. Dreadwing growled as he knew he could not risk a battle with the Autobot just then, and simply transformed and flew off after the Aegis and the GINN.

Bumblebee watched only for a moment, until he finally lowered his gun and changed it back into his hand. He then turned and waved to the Strike indicating he was ready to head back. Both the Coordinator and the Autobot watched as the opposing forces left to return to the Nazca-class vessel for different reason. One watched as his friend, who may no longer be his friend, returned with the girl he had gotten to know a little about fearing the day when they would meet again on opposing sides. The other watching as a member of his enemies flew off to assist Z.A.F.T. and do who knew what else in the near future whether it be on his own or with his fellow Decepticons.

* * *

Shortly after returning to the Vesalius, Athrun, Le Creuset, and Dreadwing were greeted by an unexpected sight. To Athrun and Le Creuset, it was merely a large silver robotic being much like Dreadwing except slightly larger and taller, with a large cannon mounted on his right arm, and glowing purple eyes that seemed to give off an intimidating and dark impression, but to Dreadwing this being was something else.

Quickly the Decepticon warrior assumed his bipedal mode and gave a short bow as he spoke, "My lord, it is good to see you are unharmed. I believe that perhaps I have found something that may allow us an advantage, if not a way to even the playing field against the Autobots sir."

The larger silver being simply looked at Dreadwing before regarding the two mobile suits beside him for a moment, and then turning back to the warrior bowing before him. He then spoke in a cold, cruel voice, "Rise Dreadwing my loyal warrior. I will see what these…Earthlings…have to offer us and our cause, but I have a message that all my forces should know full well. Decepticons, Megatron lives, and I have returned!"

* * *

_**AN: Dun dun dun! It's Megatron, and you know that's bad news! But don't worry, Bumblebee won't be the only Autobot fighting the Cons for much longer. That being said...**_

_**Megatron has now appeared before the PLANT Supreme Council, and a Z.A.F.T./Decepticon alliance seems inevitable. Meanwhile the **_**Archangel_ has arrived on Earth, but unfortunately they were forced to land in Z.A.F.T. territory. As the Desert Tiger strikes with Z.A.F.T.'s new Decepticon allies, the combined forces of the two begins to take a toll on Kira and Bumblebee. When things seem to be at their darkest however, a person that Kira had only encountered once before returns, and shortly after a living legend from Cybertron who is also Bumblebee's greatest role model. Next time on Mobile Suit Gundam SEED: Prime...The Last Prime. Strike back alongside the universe's greatest champion of peace and freedom Gundam!_**

**_Read and review please!_**


	3. 3: The Last Prime

_**AN: Before we kick this off I'd like to answer a few reviewers. First off**_

_**TheHeroOfAkatosh: I agree Transformers Prime is definitely one of the best Transformers series to date. Thanks for the story suggestions I just might consider putting a bit of thought into one of those, and don't worry, you'll be seeing a few more Bots and Cons soon enough, starting with this chapter.**_

_**Lone Gundam: Oh believe me pal, Z.A.F.T. won't be the only ones kicking themselves for being stupid enough to ally themselves with Decepticons. I won't say anything more beyond that, but then again maybe I've already said to much on that topic.  
**_

_**Alright now that that's been said...I don't own anything in either the Gundam or Transformers franchises or anything else that is mentioned in this story that is not an OC or something else like that.**_

* * *

**Chapter 3: The Last Prime**

After boarding the Vesalius with Dreadwing, Athrun, and Le Creuset leading the way, Megatron listened to what Le Creuset thought that Z.A.F.T. could do for the Decepticons. At first Megatron was skeptical to accepting aid from the humans with altered genetics, or Coordinators as they called themselves, but when he heard about how Dreadwing had encountered the Autobot Scout Bumblebee fighting alongside the Earth Forces mobile suit known as the Strike, and had seen more of what the mobile suits could do, the Decepticon war lord could not deny that his interest was piqued.

"Very well Commander Le Creuset," Megatron told the masked man in his low menacing voice. "I will meet with your PLANT Supreme Chairman and the Vice Chairman Patrick Zala to discuss the terms of a possible Z.A.F.T.-Decepticon alliance."

"Excellent Megatron, or do you prefer Lord Megatron," Le Creuset asked for clarification.

"Lord Megatron if you please," Megatron growled.

"Of course, my apologies. I just wanted to be sure," the masked commander replied in a smooth voice.

Megatron nodded and gave a small dark smile to the man. There was something about this masked man in the white Z.A.F.T. uniform that the Decepticon leader liked. He could not be sure what it was, but it was definitely something interesting, something that gave off a feeling that Le Creuset was a man that would enjoy seeing the world burn if given the chance.

Watching from around the corner in secret with a worried look was Lacus Clyne. While she was somewhat comfortable around Dreadwing, there was something unsettling about Megatron that made even the pink songstress frightened about someone's future. His overall appearance was frightening to her alone, but the most frightening thing was his eyes. The purple glow that Megatron's eyes gave off seemed unnatural, demonic, as though there was something unearthly and deadly within in them, almost as though they were the eyes of the devil himself.

She was so frightened by the sight of Megatron and his eyes that she did not hear the pink Haro shout out Athrun's name as he came around the corner, until Athrun walked up with the spherical robot in hand groaning, "Lacus you were supposed to stay in your room until we could get you transport back to the PLANT."

When Lacus jumped a little, Athrun could see that his arranged fiancé had a scared look in her eyes, something that seemed alien, foreign, and out of place on the normally cheerful, and ever hopeful pink songstress. He looked off in the direction she was looking in before and saw that Megatron was in the possible line of sight of the songstress. "He scares even you a bit does he," Athrun asked.

Lacus could do nothing more than nod in reply as her gaze briefly drifted back to the previously mentioned warlord. Athrun placed an arm around her in a comforting gesture to help alleviate some of her worry, but he could not deny there was something about Megatron that had him worried as well.

"It is mostly something in his eyes," Lacus finally told Athrun. "There's something about them that seems like pure evil."

Athrun looked at Lacus in surprise for a moment. It was not like her to speak about anyone in a way like that, so that meant that there was definitely something about Megatron that frightened her a great deal. As Athrun ran Lacus's words through his head, he could not deny that he found the large fusion cannon wielding Decepticon had something about the mere casual look in his eyes that was unsettling.

Sometime later, a transport had arrived that would take Lacus back to the PLANTs along with a report about the Decepticons, who would be following along behind to meet with Patrick Zala and Lacus's father. Lacus turned and gave Athrun a few special parting words that Athrun would remember for a long time to come. "What is it one should be fighting against? War makes that question very difficult."

Athrun looked at Lacus with a sad expression to indicate that he somewhat understood that. With that Lacus bade Athrun goodbye with a wish of seeing him again soon, and boarded the ship that would return to the PLANTs. Athrun watched as he heard Megatron give a command to Dreadwing that was followed by the two assuming their alt. modes, Megatron's being a large Cybertronian fighter jet, and flew off after the ship.

* * *

Not long after, both the Decepticons and the ship arrived at the PLANTs capital, Aprillius, where both Siegel Clyne and Patrick Zala were waiting. Siegel for his daughter, and Patrick Zala for the Decepticons. As soon as the two jets assumed their massive Cybertronian robot forms, neither one of the members of the PLANT supreme council could believe their eyes, but while Siegel was somewhat frightened by the appearance of the two massive aliens, Patrick Zala merely smirked in barely restrained excitement at what these two alone could do for Z.A.F.T.

"Supreme Chairman Clyne, Vice Chairman Zala," Megatron spoke. "I am Lord Megatron of the Decepticons. It is a pleasure to finally meet you both."

"Likewise Lord Megatron," Patrick Zala replied. "We have much to discuss, but first and foremost, how fierce of a force of warriors would you consider yourself."

Dreadwing was about to protest when Megatron raised a hand to silence him. "It is alright Dreadwing, after all they do not know anything about us or even our world so they cannot be expected to know what we would consider common knowledge," the Decepticon warlord said. He then turned back to the two PLANT leaders as he explained, "Before our home world, Cybertron, had found itself consumed in our war with the Autobots, I was a fierce gladiator in the gladiator arena of the now Decepticon capital city, Kaon. It was there in that arena that I proved my metal as a warrior, and my ability to lead."

While Siegel was concerned with the idea of this large metal titan having proved his ability to lead in a gladiator arena, being a man who hated war and longed for an age of peace, Patrick found this to be quite impressive, if his smirk was anything to go by. "Well then Lord Megatron," Zala then said, "I believe that an alliance between our two nations will be quite beneficial to both of us. Welcome to the PLANTs."

Megatron smirked in reply to Patrick Zala's proclamation. "Thank you both, and as a show of good faith, I would like to dispatch a squadron of Decepticons lead by my second in command to assist your forces on Earth."

"Then might I ask that you send them to Northern Africa," Zala inquired. When both Siegel and Megatron looked at him with curiosity he clarified saying, "There is a plan in motion to either bring down the Earth Forces Legged Ship or forced them into our territory as they descend to Earth where one of our most loyal and fiercest of soldiers, known by the nickname of the Desert Tiger, will be waiting ready with an ambush."

Megatron smirked at this information. "Very well then. It would be my pleasure. Dreadwing," Megatron said as he turned to the loyal soldier, "Contact Soundwave and tell him of the orders to send to Starscream and the team he has gathered on the surface."

"Yes Lord Megatron," Dreadwing replied and then he moved to leave and contact the Decepticon communication specialist of the new development.

* * *

When Kira and Bumblebee returned to the ship, Kira had to face a small trial headed up by Murrue with Mu acting as his lawyer. Though going against Military regulations like Kira and Bumblebee had done would have meant the death penalty, since Kira was not an official member of the military and technically he was simply returning a rescued civilian to someone who could take her home there was nothing they could do, much to the prosecutor's, Natarle Badgiruel, ire. In the case of Bumblebee, well there was really nothing they could do in his case either since he was neither a part of their military nor even from their world. As such, both Autobot and Coordinator were let off with a warning.

A short while later, the _Archangel_ rendezvoused with the Eighth Fleet after which, Kira and his friends were made official members of the military since officially they could not volunteer to help on the ship otherwise, and though they were given the chance to leave, they all chose otherwise. This decision was made after they all learned that Flay had decided to officially enlist herself. Though she claimed it was so she could honor her father's memory, what no one knew was that she had decided this as a way to keep Kira aboard the _Archangel_ make sure he would keep fighting until every last Coordinator was dead.

In the case of Bumblebee, Admiral Halberton, the commander of the Eighth fleet, was surprised at first to say the least, but gave a hearty laugh as he got to know the young Autobot scout, with Kira translating for him of course. They all then learned from Bumblebee that there was a likely chance that the other Autobots were on Earth, so since the _Archangel_ was already going to be headed down to Earth herself, it was decided that Bumblebee remain with the ship. With everything now having been said and done, the _Archangel_ moved to descend to Earth, but found herself in battle once more alongside the Eighth Fleet against the Le Creuset team.

Though Bumblebee did not participate in this battle due to the absence of the Decepticons, Kira and Mu both launched to face the Buster, and an upgraded version of the Duel. The battle became fierce and Kira was not able to return to the ship in time, which forced the _Archangel_ to pull up beneath him and end up off course and land in Z.A.F.T. territory, in the middle of northern Africa. Kira was now recovered after having passed out from the heat he endured when passing through the atmosphere, but he was racked with guilt over not being able to save a shuttle of civilians that was headed for Orb from being destroyed by the Duel. Seeing this Flay pretended to care enough to comfort him and the two ended up spending the night together.

Bumblebee on the other hand, though he could not see what was happening, he knew exactly what Flay was doing and was seriously considering ignoring Optimus Prime's rule about not harming native life forms of an alien world, which had been set as soon as the Autobots began leaving Cybertron, and blasting the red haired girl with a fully charged blast from his guns. Knowing that these thoughts were going through his processor, he stepped outside the ship to clear his head. As he gazed out at the stars in the sky, Bumblebee could not help but be reminded of the nights on Cybertron during the war when he could not sleep and simply watched the stars to calm his nerves, but at the same time, he found himself wishing that he knew where the other Autobots were, or at the very least, where their commander was now.

Bumblebee did not know how long he sat out there under the desert night sky, but sometime after he had begun watching the stars, he heard a sound that he could never mistake for anything else, the distinct sound of missiles flying through the air and getting closer. Immediately he raced back into the _Archangel_ and let out the loudest series of beeps and trills he could manage to wake up as many people as he could when the ship suddenly shook under the force of the blows of the missiles' impact.

Everyone rushed to their stations, and in the hangar, Bumblebee saw Kira racing for the Strike, with a new fire of determination in his eyes. Bumblebee may not like how that determination got there, but he was glad to see that Kira was still willing to fight to protect those he cared about. He could have cared more for the tone Kira used when he demanded to launch in the Strike however.

As soon as Kira had launched it was obvious he was at a disadvantage. _The Strike isn't meant for combat in the desert_, Kira thought to himself, as he struggled to keep the Strike standing stable on the grainy surface of the desert sand. Working fast while doing what he could to keep up with his opponents, who were piloting BuCUES, Kira was able to reprogram the Strike's OS so that it would be able to handle the desert combat situation and still use the Launcher Striker pack's long range Agni gun to fight back and even things up.

Watching from a distance was the Z.A.F.T. soldier Andrew Waltfeld, the Desert Tiger. He watched in amusement at first as the "Legged Ship", as Z.A.F.T. had come to call it, and its mobile suit, the Strike, had struggled, but that amusement soon turned into intrigue and amazement when he saw how the Strike was able to quickly adapt to handle its current situation. While that all may have been true, he knew that they had to turn the tide of this battle back into his favor. He turned to his "ally" and said, "Well now's your chance if you want to show what you're made of."

"With pleasure," Commented the large, slim, silver robot with dark grey shoulders, a pair of wings on his back that extended upward in a v-shape and orange-red eyes. "I cannot begin to understand how Dreadwing could possibly fail to defeat a single human ship with only one of these 'mobile suits' as you call them, but I can assure you, we shall not have that problem. Decepticons take to the skies and annihilate the enemy ship!"

"Yes Commander Starscream," answered two other Decepticons who looked exactly like Starscream except for their colors, one of which was dark blue and red in other areas and the other was purple and black, a large blue and silver robot that seemed to turn into a ground type vehicle with dark gold eyes, and a few other Decepticon drones all of which had a single red visor, and were colored black and silver.

Immediately, all the flyers took to the skies and fired on the _Archangel_ and the Strike. The tide of battle began to flow back to the enemy's side as the Decepticons gave the Z.A.F.T. forces a major advantage, and the Strike was overpowered. Eventually, Bumblebee could no longer sit around on the ship and launched into battle as well. Sadly, Bumblebee's vehicle mode was no help to him in the desert, as his wheels did nothing more than spin in the sand, so he transformed to his bipedal mode and opened fire on the Decepticons.

"Well, well the Autobot Scout Bumblebee," Starscream mused. "That would explain Dreadwing's failure, but I will be sure to rectify his mistake of not ending the scout while he was wounded. Breakdown, finish him."

"With pleasure," the blue and silver, red faced ground type Con replied. He then switched his right hand into a hammer and charged Bumblebee, slamming his hammer arm into the scout as soon as he was close enough.

Bumblebee was sent to the ground upon impact, but quickly rolled to the side to avoid the follow-up hit and shot Breakdown at point blank sending the larger Decepticon flying. Breakdown growled a bit and then got up and charged the scout as he was bombarded by the other seekers and flyers. Connecting another hit to Bumblebee's stomach with his fist, Breakdown hit Bumblebee twice more with his hammer before his third hit sent Bumblebee to the ground again. This time when the scout tried to stand or at least rise up, he was stopped as Starscream landed and pinned him down with his foot. "Prepare to join the AllSpark scout," the Decepticon sky commander told Bumblebee as he leveled his left arm with missiles mounted on top right with Bumblebee's optics.

"Bumblebee," Kira shouted when he saw his Autobot friend was in trouble. He wanted to do something to help him, but there was nothing he could do as he was surrounded and being bombarded by the Decepticon flyers. That soon became less of a problem when one of them was hit by a missile from the distance. Kira and everyone else turned to see a small force of military jeeps rolling across the desert and trying to clear out both the Z.A.F.T. attack choppers and the Decepticon flyers, the former being easier than the latter. Starscream and the other Cons showed little concern for this as one jeep pulled up by the Strike's leg and one of its passengers told Kira to lead them to a trap that this resistance force had set up, but now both the Strike and the jeep were surrounded.

Starscream smirked at what he believed to be an easy victory, when he heard the sound of a horn blaring. He turned to the source and saw a large, long nose red and blue truck racing across the desert towards the battle smashing into Decepticon drones on the ground as it went. Just when the Cons began to open fire, the truck seemed to launch itself into the air and transformed into a large red and blue robot, with broad shoulders, and a blue helmet with a face guard over the lower half of his face beneath electric blue eyes. The large titan slammed its fist into a Decepticon drone as he landed on the ground and changed his right fist into a blaster and opened fire on the Decepticons. As he ceased firing for a moment, he shouted out three words that Bumblebee was all too familiar with, and which would echo throughout the rest of human history. "Autobots roll out!"

"What?! No," Starscream shouted. "Optimus Prime!"

Bumblebee let out a trill of excitement indicating he was cheering as he slammed a fist into Starscream's leg tripping him up before Bumblebee then slammed his fist into the seeker's gut. Kira could only stare in amazement for a moment along with a number of the other human combatants and observers at the sight as he whispered, "That's…another Autobot…"

With Optimus Prime joining the battle, the Strike and the jeep that had pulled up beside it were able to easily break through the enemy lines and lured both the Z.A.F.T. BaCUES and a number of Decepticon drones into the trap that had been sent, and as soon as all the friendly forces were cleared, the trap of explosives went off taking them all out. Starscream snarled from the air in his jet mode, and then ordered, "All Decepticons pull back. Skywarp, contact Lord Megatron and inform him that we have confirmed the Legged Ship has allied itself with the Autobots. Oh and be sure to mention…Optimus Prime is back."

A short while later after all the Decepticons and Z.A.F.T. troops had pulled back, the Strike's phase shift armor powered down changing into its dull grey color while Optimus simply walked up to the Strike and Bumblebee, who speed-walked up to the large red and blue robot. Bumblebee let out his typical series of beeps as if asking if it was really him. The large robot retracted his battle mask and gave the scout a small, yet soft smile as he said, "Hello old friend. It warms my spark to see you still function."

If it were possible for Transformers to cry, Bumblebee would be shedding tears of joy right then as he gave his leader and father figure a quick hug, which Optimus returned happily. Optimus then asked Bumblebee to tell him what had happened while gazing for a moment at the Strike, all while the sun rose in the distance. While the scout gave his report to the Autobot leader, a young blond haired girl with fiery gold colored eyes, in a tomboy style outfit of a red short sleeved t-shirt, tan cargo jeans, and a dark green vest stared angrily at the Strike for a moment before turning to stare at the two Autobots as she thought to herself, _What are these two machines? Are they more of my father's betrayal or something else entirely?_

* * *

_**AN: In case it has not been made clear by now, there will be quite a bit of bashing on one Natarle Badgiruel for some time. But really can ya blame me? The woman was a total witch for a majority of the series until the last few episodes. Now that that's been said...YEAH! The greatest hero of Cybertron and the universe's greatest champion of freedom and peace, Optimus Prime is here! Give him a grand round of applause!...Sorry I'm a big Optimus fan so I just had to let that out. Moving on...**_

_**The **_**Archangel _meets with the Desert Dawn and Kira discovers more about the young woman he met in Morgenroete before he became the pilot of the Strike. Both the crew and the Desert Dawn discover the identity of the large red and blue titan that saved them, and shortly after they learn of others that had been among the Desert Dawn without the guerrilla fighters knowing it. Next time on Mobile Suit Gundam SEED: Prime...Autobots Assemble. Witness the reunion of Cybertron's mightiest team of warriors for peace Gundam! __  
_**

**_See you next time. Read and review please_**


	4. 4: Autobots Assemble

**_AN: Okay next chapter is up by popular demand. Oh and to answer a certain review, I will not name who this time, I've actually already used content from the games as well. If you were to look back at the first couple of chapters it mentions that Bumblebee had suffered damage to his chest. That pays homage to what happened to him during the events of Transformers Fall of Cybertron. Also this chapter will show that I will be expanding on the Autobot and Decepticon elite soldier line up (When I say elite soldiers I am referring to the important characters that are not just drones or the like). Okay with that of the way...I do not own anything from either the Gundam or Transformer franchises._**

* * *

**Chapter 4: Autobots Assemble**

The following morning was not a good time to be in Starscream's shoes, or pedes in his case. Being the one who had commanded the Decepticon forces in last night's attack on the _Archangel_ and Bumblebee, the sky commander had the unfortunate duty of reporting the failure to Megatron. Needless to say, Megatron was not pleased with the news of his second in command's failure. _"I had thought this would be a simple assignment even for you Starscream,"_ the Decepticon warlord snarled. _"And yet you could not defeat a _single_ human ship that was only guarded by _one mobile suit_ and _a single Autobot scout_!"_

Even over the communicator as a holographic projection, Starscream was still frightened by Megatron's fury. "M-master please," Starscream begged. "I-it would've gone as expected, but t-there were a f-few unexpected factors that came into play. S-surely you can understand that f-from the report and message I sent you last night."

_"__Silence you incompetent fool,"_ Megatron snarled. _"I care not about the petty human resistance fighters! They should have made little to no difference!"_

"I-it wasn't just them Lord Megatron," Starscream sputtered, trying to restrain himself from backing away in fear from the holo-projection. "A-as I said before, t-they received Autobot reinforcements as well! O-Optimus Prime appeared on the battle field and joined in the defense of the ship and the other humans!"

Megatron suddenly adopted a neutral expression at the mention of his former brother-turned enemy. _"You are certain that it was Optimus Prime who appeared,"_ he then asked in a tone that just dared Starscream to give any indication of being uncertain in even a small amount.

"Yes Lord Megatron," Starscream replied, finally regaining a bit of his composure. "I would know that color scheme of the last Prime anywhere. Not only that, but given his fighting form, choice of weapons, the way he spoke, all left no reason to doubt that it was in fact Optimus Prime."

It was times like these that Starscream could not entirely gauge what his "master" was thinking, as Megatron kept a neutral expression while musing this new information over. Finally Megatron ordered, _"Remain with the Lesseps until further notice, but do not take action until they have received a resupply. I expect you to have all of your troops ready for the mission they have dubbed Operation Spitbreak."_

Starscream wanted to protest against this, feeling that his honor had been wounded by last night's events, though some would argue the fact over whether or not Starscream even had any honor, but he knew that if he were to argue right then he would have an appointment with the scrapper. "Yes Master," Starscream conceded as the communication line closed.

"I take it your big bad boss is not happy," an unknown voice asked. Starscream spun around and saw Waltfeld standing in the doorway.

"No, but whether the news of Optimus Prime now being on Earth upsets him or not, I cannot say," Starscream replied irritably. "What do you want _human_?"

"Simple, I was wondering if you were really going to listen and take the Desert Dawn's attack last night sitting down like your boss told you to."

Starscream raised an eyebrow at that. "And why is that?"

"Well I know for a fact my men and I are not going to take this blow to our honor lying down, and I have a plan to show that to these freedom fighters."

Starscream smirked and gave a small chuckle. "Well I would perhaps be inclined to join you in such a plan if it were not for Lord Megatron's previous order against any such action."

"Maybe, but then again he does not know what's going on down here on Earth since he's not here himself, and no one said you yourself had to go."

"That is true, and of course we cannot allow the humans to think that the Decepticons take such trickery lying down either, plus what Lord Megatron does not know, won't hurt him."

The two planet side commanders of Z.A.F.T. and the Decepticons both chuckled at that thinking that they were going to enjoy what would come next.

* * *

Meanwhile in the PLANT, Soundwave had just terminated the communication with Starscream when a visitor walked in. "Is this a bad time Lord Megatron," said person inquired.

Megatron turned around and let a small smile grace his faceplate. "Ah Vice Chairman Zala," Megatron said in cool, yet calm voice that was meant to be pleasant. "Welcome aboard the _Nemesis_. You should feel honored to be the first human to ever set foot aboard a Cybertronian ship."

"I will admit it is a rather…exhilarating experience to say the least," Zala conceded. He then adopted a more serious expression that just hid a slight amount of worry in his face as he asked, "Are you concerned about what your second in command reported? The news about this 'Optimus Prime' as he called him, being on Earth and with the Legged Ship?"

To the vice chairman's slight surprise, Megatron let out a low, dark chuckle. "Not entirely," Megatron told Zala. "Truthfully I am quite glad that Optimus still functions. While Prime may be a worthy leader who can rally the Autobots already on Earth with but a few words, he is also a worthy foe as well. It is true we should normally worry about what having the last Prime on the Earth Forces could mean, but at the same time we must still remember that he is far too soft to do what is necessary. To say otherwise would be to bring up the question as to why I still function since Prime has already had a few chances to finish me and either did not or failed to. Even with Optimus Prime, the Autobots are still few in numbers, while we have an entire army of Decepticons both in terms of sheer overall numbers, and in terms of our commanding officers."

Zala did not like the sound of this Optimus Prime at first, but the more Megatron said, the less worried he became. It was true that Megatron still had access to his warship and an entire army of Decepticons, both drones and commanders alike, he had actually seen a team of these commanders doing repair work on the ship to make sure it was ready, the Constructicons as he believed they were called, and they had no idea how many Autobots were even in this galaxy at the moment let alone how many were on Earth. That thought however raised another matter. "Have you been able to determine how many Autobots are on Earth?"

Megatron nodded as he gestured to his ever loyal, yet silent communications specialist and greatest information retriever Soundwave. This large Decepticon had only a blank screen for a face instead of an actual face like his fellow senior commanders, and was rather slim with long arms, and strange cables coming from his sides and back. His vehicle form was that of a spy jet, and the most impressive thing about him was that he could be called a one Decepticon army with his ability to spawn smaller robot drones such as the bird shaped drone Laserbeak.

"Soundwave has determined for a fact that there are no Autobot foot soldiers or drones on Earth, and the normal Autobots are still few in numbers," Megatron explained. "Aside from Prime and his scout, there are currently only five Autobots in Northern Africa at this time. We have determined this is not the total number, but we do know for a fact that we still have them outnumbered."

Zala smirked at this. While it was true that the Earth Forces seemed to have gained a potential ally in the Autobots, there also a saying that having the greater number of forces could change the tide of battle just as easily as skills of a few soldiers could. Feeling satisfied with this Zala looked back to Megatron and asked, "Perhaps we could have Soundwave find out if there is any way for us to have gain another advantage over the Earth Forces?"

Megatron smirked at what the vice chairman seemed to be implying. "I would very much like to hear more of what this plan of yours would involve Vice Chairman. Perhaps we could discuss this during a tour of my warship?"

Zala nodded at that and moved aside to allow Megatron to take the lead. Soundwave was left in command of the bridge until the Decepticon warlord returned from gracing their guest with a tour of the _Nemesis_. As the two departed, only Soundwave was not left wondering just what the two were planning to ensure that they won both of their respective wars while ensuring the victory of the other's.

* * *

The crew of the _Archangel_ had begun gearing up for when Murrue and Mu were to head out to meet with the resistance fighters that had assembled just a short way outside the ship when it landed again. Though these people had saved the ship as well as the Strike and Bumblebee, they were not sure whether or not it was inadvertently or if that was even their intention, nor were they certain if they were truly allies. They were not going to take chances, hence part of the reason that the Strike was still outside the ship. Bumblebee, on the other hand, had gone off to the side a little ways to speak with the larger, red and blue robot that had also assisted the ship in the previous battle, clearly further indicating he was a friend.

The large red and blue Cybertronian nodded in understanding as he listened to Bumblebee's explanation of what had happened to him recently and of what had transpired, as well as his explanation of his new human friends. The more he heard from the scout, the more proud he felt of the young Autobot, and he the happier he was to learn that the Autobots seemed to have found new allies. At the same time, he felt that his spark was saddened by the idea that they seemed to have inadvertently dragged another innocent world into their war when they were already in the midst of their own, but he could not deny that, with the Decepticons aiding one of the warring factions, that it was impossible for the Autobots to stand back on the sidelines.

Murrue only noticed this from the corner of her eye as her attention was focused on the Guerilla soldiers in front of her, some of which she noted were just teenagers. "It's only proper we should thank you," the _Archangel_ captain began. "After all your group did save our ship and mobile suit. Murrue Ramius. Earth Forces. I'm with the Eighth Fleet."

"How is that," a young dark skinned boy in a dark blue vest asked. "Wasn't the Eighth Fleet completely wiped out by the enemy?"

The reminder of this was not something Captain Ramius wanted to hear right now, and the leader of the Guerillas noticed this as he raised an arm to silence the boy before he spoke. "Our group is known as the Desert Dawn. I go by the name of Sahib Ashman. You need not bother thanking us. I'm sure you understand the reason we were fighting was not necessarily to save you."

Though Murrue kept the neutral expression she had when she was reminded of the fate of the Eighth Fleet, she was somewhat surprised by this. Sahib then smirked as he explained, "We attacked them because they also happen to be our enemy."

"You guys versus the Desert Tiger," Mu asked. "Fighting for a while?"

Sahib ignored the question as he adopted a thoughtful expression upon turning to the blonde mobile armor pilot. "I recognize you but I cannot say from where."

"My name is Mu La Flaga. Don't know a living soul in these parts," Mu told him with a smile and a shrug.

"I never expected to meet the Hawk of Endymion in a place such as this," Sahib then told him with a small smile.

This slightly surprised the two Earth Forces soldiers, though Ramius had a more intrigued smile at this information as she told Sahib that he struck her as being someone who was well informed and asked if he knew about them. Sahib continued his smile as he replied, "You are the crew of the Earth Forces' new assault ship, the _Archangel_ yes?" He paused for a moment to get a nod of confirmation from Ramius. "You ascended to Earth to escape Le Creuset's team." He then turned to look at the powered down mobile suit as he continued. "And that machine of yours is-"

"X105-Strike," The blonde haired girl next to Sahib interrupted. "That's what they call this thing. It's one of the Earth Forces' new prototype mobile weapons."

Sahib nodded slightly towards the girl. "So here we are. How good it is that we know who you are and you know who we are," he continued. "I must say though, we were surprised to see you land in such an unfortunate location. I can only assume that you landed in this place by accident, but now that you're here I'm curious to know what you plan to do."

Murrue and Mu looked at one and other for a moment, noting how they never mentioned anything about the Autobots or even just Bumblebee alone. Murrue then looked back at them and asked, "Can we count on you for your full cooperation?"

Sahib smirked a little. "If you're serious about talking you should lower your guns first," he replied, indicating he knew some of the _Archangel_'s crew were near the ship's airlock standing by with weapons just to be safe. He then turned towards the Strike again as he continued saying, "He should disarm as well, along with the other two that seem to enjoy talking over there."

Murrue nodded and agreed to this. She then asked Kira to come down and join them, and waved Bumblebee and his Autobot friend over. A moment later, Kira had exited the cockpit of the Strike and lowered himself to the ground with its cable, but some of the Desert Dawn started to get concerned when they saw that the two Autobots were walking over and did not seem to show signs of having pilots step out. "Hey they don't need to move their mobile suits," the blonde girl said angrily, "Just tell the pilots to step out."

"Sorry can't do that," Mu replied with a smile. When Sahib demanded why not Mu just said, "Because those two are actually not mobile suits."

The Desert Dawn members were all slightly shocked at that, but what came as even more of shock was when Kira took his helmet off, revealing his face clearly to the guerrillas. Immediately many of them were whispering things in surprise like how he was just a kid or the fact he was so young, but the blonde haired girl had simply looked on in shock before clenching her first and scowling as she ran up to Kira. Once she was close enough to him, she breathed out in a low voice what she confirmed. "So it is you."

The fact that this strange girl seemed to recognize Kira shocked Bumblebee, Ramius, and Sahib as they were all wondering how the two knew each other. Mu was moving to act as a precaution, but a tall man with long hair, dark skin, and a bow and quiver full of arrows on his back moved in front of him which led him to back off with a carefree smile after a moment.

Kira was slightly confused for a moment, until the girl tried to hit him asking, "Why…what is someone like you doing here huh?"

Then, almost immediately after he stopped her by catching her wrist, Kira recognized the blonde woman as a girl he met back before he first piloted the Strike. "That's right," Kira softly realized as he continued to hold her wrist. "You're that girl I met back at Morgenroete."

"Let go of me you jerk," the girl shouted finally getting lose and landing on the right side of Kira's face.

"Cagalli," Sahib shouted. The archer stepped back as Mu asked what that was all about, while all Kira could do was continue to stare in shock at the girl who continued to glare at him. That was when they noticed that the large red and blue robot was approaching, not the Desert Dawn, Murrue, and Mu, but the two children that were currently staring at each other until they looked up to see the titan kneeling down so that he could be close to their eye level.

Whether it was fear or slight apprehension, neither of them moved or spoke as the larger machine lowered himself closer to them until he asked in a deep, yet soft, caring voice, "Are you Kira Yamato, pilot of the X105-Strike, and the one that patched up Bumblebee?"

Cagalli could only stare in shock as the machine she initially thought was a mobile suit actually spoke, asking the boy, whom she only met that once on Heliopolis, if he had his name right. "Y-yes," Kira replied nervously.

The metal titan then gave a soft smile as he spoke once again. "I thank you for that, and I also thank you and the crew of the _Archangel_ for looking after my old friend for so long. My name is Optimus Prime."

Kira gasped as he realized that he was now speaking to the one that Bumblebee had compared him to when he first spoke to the scout alone that time in the _Archangel_'s hangar. He barely even registered as the girl moved away, whether out of fear or for another reason, to whisper to Sahib that it should not be a problem to show them all where their camp was, until Sahib spoke up saying, "You can follow us back to our campsite along with the two large metal friends of yours. I have a feeling an explanation behind those two is long overdue."

Murrue smiled and thanked him for that as she turned to Bumblebee and Optimus who both nodded saying that they heard. Then she, Kira, and Mu all boarded the _Archangel_ with the Strike once more as Optimus and Bumblebee decided that they would simply travel there on their own power. Both Transformers knew it was time for a long overdue explanation of their kind's history, but before they left, Optimus detected five Autobot life signatures in the direction they needed to head and sent out a simple call after assuming his vehicle mode. "Calling all Autobots, Calling all Autobots."

* * *

Sometime later that day, the Desert Dawn arrived back at their camp with the _Archangel_ and two Autobots in tow. Sahib received the reaction he expected from his men when they saw the Earth Forces ship and the two Autobots in vehicle form and told them that both were the Desert Dawn's guests so they should behave themselves. What he did not expect was that there were already some other guests at their camp, one of which was atop one of the mountains and had started shooting off some rounds from his gun into the air as he shouted, "He's back! He's alive! OPTIMUS IS HERE!"

He looked up to see a large, military green robot carrying a large gun on his back and what looked like a metallic beard, with a Cybertronian equivalent to a cigar in his mouth start climbing down the mountain side to approach one of the two strange vehicles, and he was not the only one. A moment later a midnight blue motorcycle, a large green SUV, and a red sports car with bull horns mounted on the front of its hood all rolled up as well with a large dark pink convertible pulling up a short ways behind them. Before anyone could say anything all four vehicles began changing into four different robots as well.

The green SUV had turned into a large, bulky robot with a grey face and blue optics. They way he walked showed that despite his large size, he was very cautious about hurting something smaller than him by accident. He carried himself as a proud warrior who was not afraid of anything and who had faced danger on a daily basis. His large arms and hands indicated that he was clearly built for heavy duty work that required a lot of muscle when necessary.

The red sports car had turned into a smaller, yet still big robot with bull horns atop his head, and a dark grey face plate and blue optics that shone with confidence. Though his torso was big, it was not as large as the green one's, as though it was more of an average fighter's build which was further embellished by his large arms, and legs that clearly held a lot of muscle and showed he was meant for even just a bit more speed than his larger companion.

The midnight blue motorcycle was far different from the first two. For starters its figure was significantly more slim than the other two which meant it was more flexible than them, but not only that but its overall figure proved without a doubt that it was clearly female. The female machine's optics were a light blue mixed with slight dark pink and she had an air about her that said she cared enough about her comrades to not let any injury to them go unpunished yet at the same time it said that it was not wise to mess with her.

Finally, the dark pink convertible had also assumed a feminine appearance, though she seemed to have a slight more muscle to her if her larger build was anything to go by. She had three horns on her dark pink helmet, electric blue eyes, and a mostly dark pink armor with dark silver on the upper arms and in other such areas such as the joints. Her mere presence was one of command that allowed others to both be able to follow her into danger without worry, and at the same time said that she would not take any back talk that was not necessary when she gave an order.

The red one was the one to reach the red and blue truck first as it rolled up, as he said, "Well whadya know. Mister Leader of the Free Galaxy himself."

The large green one approached next saying, "Welcome back Boss Bot."

As for the two female Bots, only the blue one approached while the dark pink one stood back for a moment, as the former motorcycle said, "Good to see you're still functional sir."

After coming to a stop, Optimus and Bumblebee both transformed into their bipedal modes, the latter's appearance causing the blue female and red male bots to gain the biggest looks of shock at the sight of him out of all the bots. As the two stared at Bumblebee, Optimus walked up and told the others, "It warms my spark to see you all are well and unharmed Autobots, and I thank you all for the warm welcome." Then he noticed the dark pink female bot and gasped as he softly exclaimed, "Elita?"

The others moved aside to let the final Bot approach Optimus, slowly at first until she broke into a short run and hugged him tightly as soon as she reached him a softly said, "Optimus, I can't begin to tell you how happy I am to see you again after so long."

Optimus hesitated at first due to the shock of seeing Elita, as he had called this female Bot, before quickly embracing the slightly smaller Autobot in his arms and whispered, "I feel the same way Elita."

Meanwhile, everyone that was not an Autobot looked on with surprise at the sight of what they assumed to be other Autobots, and then smiles at the sight of this small reunion. That happiness turned to shock once more when the blue female Autobot raced up to Bumblebee and hit him across the face with a nasty right hook. Bumblebee let a series of beeps that was obviously a question to which the female Bot replied, "For making me think you were dead you scrap headed idiot!"

Bumblebee then had the sense to look a bit sheepish at that as he trilled out what everyone assumed to be an apology for that, when midway through his sentence the smaller Bot hugged Bumblebee tightly as she whispered, "Don't you ever do that to me again you hear me Bee?"

Bumblebee hesitated at first, but eventually returned the hug, which got a slight glare from the bull horned Bot. Said Autobot quickly shook it off before going up to the scout and saying that it was good to see him again, both talking like they were best buddies. Soon enough, Optimus released the female Bot that was in his arms long enough to tell the humans present that he would like to wait until night before telling them the Autobots' story, to which both the leaders of the Desert Dawn and the _Archangel_ nodded, as they too had business to attend to.

* * *

Much later that night, much had transpired. Sahib had met with Murrue, Mu, and Natarle and informed them that Z.A.F.T. had taken over the Victoria Space Port only three days ago and helped them to figure out a few routes to Alaska. Sadly both routes were risky, as one route would mean they would have to break through Gibraltar, where the Z.A.F.T. Earth base was located. The only other way was to break through the forces of the Desert Tiger and the Lesseps and reach the red sea and travel across the Pacific Ocean.

The only other major occurrences for the _Archangel_ crew were among Kira and his group of friends, both of which involved Kira in some way. The first being Cagalli and Kira speaking to one and other to resolve any tension that either one had caused recently, the most important being Cagalli apologizing for hitting Kira even though it was a spur of the moment thing. The second was between Kira, Flay, and Sai, in which Flay revealed that she had spent last night alone with Kira, ultimately telling Sai once and for all that their relationship was over. This of course shocked Sai to his core and caused him to lash out at the young Coordinator futility. Kira had told Sai that he should back off and that if he were to fight Sai seriously he would not stand a chance in a fight against Kira, but only a moment later Kira revealed that it seemed to him that Flay was the only one who seemed to worry about what he was going through when he was fighting and as a result of his having to fight. Though whether Sai really understood this or not, no one was sure, but what they did not know was that Flay was still just playing with Kira's emotions to ensure that he would keep fighting.

None of the three friends realized they were being watched by both Cagalli, who was shocked at all this as well, and Bumblebee, who was now torn between trying to intervene in order to keep the two boys from either saying or doing something they would later regret and just flat out blasting the anti-Coordinator, red haired girl since he knew what she was up to. Despite this, Bumblebee still had to walk over and tell the three of them that they should gather up their other friends since Optimus was about to tell everyone the Autobots' story at long last.

In no time at all, every human and Autobot had gathered around Optimus, with the Bots forming the edges of a circle and the humans sitting in the center in front of the last Prime. When Optimus saw that he was here, he decided to begin. "For those of you who do not already know," the Autobot leader began, "my name is Optimus Prime. We are autonomous robotic organisms from the planet Cybertron or Autobots for short. Before I tell our tale I would like to introduce the other Autobots among you, who are now all members of my team. First off is one of our finest warriors, Cliffjumper."

The large red Autobot gave a small mock salute to the humans as he greeted them saying, "What's up folks. I gotta say you've got one amazingly cool planet. Oh, and some friendly advice: mess with Cliffjumper, and you get the horns."

"Hey how did you guys learn to speak our language and talk like that," Kira's friend Tolle asked.

"We have learned Earth's languages through the world wide web," Optimus explained. That answer seemed to make sense to everyone since there was almost nothing that could not be found on the internet these days. Optimus then continued by gesturing to the large dark green Autobot and saying, "One of our strongest warriors and a former Wrecker, Bulkhead."

Bulkhead gave a small nervous wave as he said hello, while one of the Desert Dawn members what it meant to be a Wrecker. The blue female Bot answered saying, "The Wreckers are a special unit in the Autobots that handled the more high risk missions back on Cybertron during the war."

"So they're like a black ops group," Mu asked, to which Bulkhead gave a proud nod as he recited the Wrecker signature catch phrase, "When it comes to the Wreckers, we don't call for backup. We call for clean up!"

When he finished he accidentally crushed a nearby, Cybertronian device to which Elita shouted, "Not to go Ratchet on you big guy but, Bulkhead I needed that!"

Optimus let out a smile small in amusement while Bulkhead hastily apologized as he continued. "Another of our finest warriors and one of our best infiltration specialists, Arcee." The large blue female simply placed her hands on her hips and winked in greeting to everyone. "Our current weapons specialist and one of the first Wreckers, as well as the Autobots' finest tracker, Hound."

The large military green Bot smirked as he whipped out the gun on his back and a large cannon asking, "Any of you little organics feeling lucky?"

"Easy Hound," Optimus warned.

"What I was just kidding Prime," Hound replied in a tone that proved he was messing around. "I only wanted to show off my cannons."

Optimus shook his head while suppressing a small chuckle as he continued. "One of our finest commanders, current sole medical officer, and Team Prime's acting second in command, Elita One."

Elita smirked a bit as she sauntered over to Optimus and wrapped her arms around him saying, "What Optimus forgot to mention was that I'm also his sparkmate."

Everyone quirked an eyebrow at that, but only Kira ended up asking the obvious question. "What's a sparkmate?"

"The closest thing your human terminology has to the word would be to say that she's his wife," Arcee replied, causing just about everyone other than the Autobots to gain shocked expression at this news.

"Hey Bumblebee how come you never mentioned that," Kira asked the scout, because Kira knew for a fact every time he asked Bumblebee about Optimus he had never mentioned that.

Bumblebee just let off a few innocent sounding beeps and blips which Kira was about to translate for everyone when they asked what Bee had said, before Cagalli interrupted saying, "Seriously? You didn't mention it because he never asked? I understand the whole not your place to tell bit but come on!"

Everyone including the scout looked at Cagalli in shock as she now showed she was now the second human to understand what the scout said. Before anyone could ask why that was though, Optimus cleared his throat to continue by introducing Bumblebee to everyone who did not know him. Then came the obvious question, which was just blurted out by Natarle. "Why are you here?"

Optimus adopted a solemn expression as he stated, "We are here to protect your world from the threat of Megatron and his forces the Decepticons, who wish to ravage your world for the sake of ending our war in their favor. Before you ask why he does not do so to our own world, it is because our home, Cybertron, is now no longer capable of supporting life. It is, in all senses, now a world without light or life."

Everyone gasped in shock at this. To think that these large titans, despite all there obvious power and strength, were now without a home simply because their entire world had been destroyed. The Desert Dawn members could not help but feel sympathetic to the Autobots as they knew full well what it was like to lose your home in an instant. Even Natarle could not help but feel upset at hearing this news, because believe it or not she did actually care very much for others, she just did not show it all that much. Though everyone was sad for the Autobots, no one could help but wonder and eventually ask the obvious question of what had happened to cause something so terrible.

Optimus then kneeled down, touched the side of his helmet, and produced a holographic image from his optics as he began his tale of how their story began, and of both the war and the fall of the Transformers' home world, Cybertron. He began by saying, "Our world's fate was decided by an event you are all quite familiar with as you all face it at this very moment: War. To truly understand our tale however, I must tell you everything, how the war began, how the two factions of Cybertronians came to be, and how one I once called brother became my greatest enemy."

* * *

_**AN: Well there you have it, the Autobot team is starting to get back together again. For those of you who recognized those little moments from the new Transformers movie, Transformers Age of Extinction, good for you, and I will personally admit that I just had to throw it in there because I thought it was so awesome! Also, yes I added in Elita One and made her Optimus's wife, I know a lot of people have done it before, but hey I can't help it, I always thought that the relationship between Optimus and Elita should be in a few more Transformers series and expanded upon more than it was in the ones that it was. Okay well maybe not Transformers Animated considering what they did to it in that series. Moving on then...**_

_**The mystery of the beings from Cybertron is revealed at last, as Optimus tells those gathered before him of how the events of their world had led to where they are now. Will the last Prime's tale give everyone more to think about in terms of what has happened in Earth's war with the PLANTs, or will it only cause certain individuals to think they are more justified in their reasons? In the end though, another tragedy begins as Starscream and the Desert Tiger's plan brings about fruition. Next time in Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Prime...The Legend of Cybertron. Brace yourself for the history of War for Cybertron Gundam! Read and review please.**_


	5. 5: The Legend of Cybertron

_**Cagalli: Hey what gives Mr. Author?!**_

_**AN: What the-? How did you get in here?!**_

_**Cagalli: Never mind that now! I want an explanation on a few things!**_

_**AN: Like...?**_

_**Cagalli: Like why I can understand Bumblebee for one thing. Or how about why according to what I've seen of your little plans for what happens later in this story you decided to-**_

_**AN: HEY! WHOA! SPOILER ALERT! And the readers are here, you want to give something away?!**_

_**Cagalli: I don't care! I'm not leaving till I get an explanation, and I will reveal everything you have planned to them.**_

_**AN: I'll let you do the disclaimer and give you a small side adventure with one of the Autobots if you don't.**_

_**Cagalli: ...Fine. lyokoMARVELanime does not own anything in the Gundam or Transformers franchises. Now can you tell me which Autobot I'll be working with on this side adventure?  
**_

_**AN: Uh no.**_

* * *

**Chapter 5: The Legend of Cybertron**

Though the image that Optimus was projecting from his optics was the same electric blue as said optics, the gathered crowd of the _Archangel_ crew and the Desert Dawn could all tell that the holographic image of the Autobots' home planet was entirely metal, and given the size of the Transformers they could only guess that to them or any other humans this metal world would be just massive enough for the large robotic life forms to consider it normal sized. Despite knowing all this, they still thought that this world was beautiful in its own way.

"To understand our tale I must tell you as much as I can of our world's history, including the legends and stories of how both Cybertron and all those who once walked upon it came to be," Optimus began getting everyone's attention. "In the beginning, like in all things, there were two forces that balanced each other out. One was known to be the embodiment of light, order, and creation, Primus the creator. The other was known as the Chaos Bringer, the embodiment of darkness, and it was said that his very blood could revive the dead into horrid monsters known as Terrorcons, Unicron the Chaos Bringer."

"Wait a minute," Cagalli's friend Ahmed interrupted. "What's so scary about a unicorn?" When the Autobots all looked at him in confusion Cagalli elaborated saying, "You know, white horse with a horn on its head that dances around all sparkly?"

"Not unicorn," Arcee corrected. "Unicron."

Optimus then took this moment to continue his story. "Primus and Unicron often clashed as they fought against one another time and again, neither one willing to yield. However, for a time it seemed as though the Chaos Bringer would triumph, until Primus brought to life his disciples, the very first Transformers."

"They were known as the Original Thirteen Primes: Prima, the first of all Transformers, and the warrior of light who wielded the mighty blade known as the Star Saber; Vector Prime, the guardian of time and space, and interdimensional traveler; Alpha Trion, the archivist, keeper of the Covenant of the Primes, my mentor, and the only known member that still functions to this day as far as we know; Solus Prime, the only female member and the weapon-smith of the Primes who was said to be able to forge anything be it weaponry or even Transformer body parts from the simplest of materials or machinery with her mystical forge; Micronus Prime, the first Mini-Con, known as 'the Catalyst'; Alchemist Prime, known as 'the Elemental', and who was said to have overseen the early development of early Cybertronian civilization; Nexus Prime, the first combiner who was capable of separating his body into several smaller Transformers who could function individually from each other; Onyx Prime, the spirit warrior and the first to ever assume the ability to take on the alt mode of a beast; Quintus Prime, the 'Experimental Dreamer' and creator of the beings known as the Quintessons; Liege Maximo, also known as 'the Manipulator', who would later come to be considered as the ultimate evil among the Primes and a natural counterforce to the heroic Prima; Megatronus, who later come to be known as 'the Fallen', the one who would often be described as the guardian of entropy, and a warrior of darkness; and finally, my ancestor Optimus Prime, who was known to be a great motivational speaker and Visionary, who kept the Thirteen together as a group and settled internal disputes until the end of his life cycle."

At the news that Optimus was actually a reincarnation of one of the original Transformers, every human present had a look that could only be described as shock and amazement. Optimus seemed to take no notice as he continued his tale. "With the aid of the Original Thirteen, Primus was able to defeat Unicron, casting the weakened Chaos Bringer off into the far reaches of the darkness of space. However, the battle and the creation of the Primes had cost Primus a great amount of energy, and thus he used what was left of his great power to transform his body into a world where his new children could live and grow. Primus himself not only gave birth to, but became planet Cybertron."

"Hold on a moment," Natarle interrupted. "Are you telling me that we're supposed to believe your home world is supposedly some massive god like robot or something?"

"Whether you believe this or not does not matter Natarle Badgiruel," Optimus replied in his usual calm, soothing, deep voice. "In fact today not many Transformers truly believe this legend to be true. However I know it to be true since I carry the Matrix of Leadership within me, which contains the wisdom of all the previous Primes before me as well as a piece of Primus himself. How I came to possess this great relic will be made clear later on in my tale."

That was enough to shut the lieutenant up for the moment, as Optimus then went on from there. "Over time, new Transformers were born and raised on Cybertron; however, with the end of my ancestor and Megatronus's defection to becoming The Fallen, the Original Thirteen Primes soon began to find their lives ending and eventually became divided as they went their separate ways. Over the years, the legacy of the Primes was passed down to those who proved themselves worthy as the golden age of Cybertron reigned on, but nothing was meant to last forever."

"Overtime, the golden age came to an end, and by the time I and my fellow Transformers of today came into existence, a caste system had come into our world. This caste system made things so that no one possessed the freedom that all sentient beings had the right to, going so far that those of lowest castes did not even have proper names. At that time I myself was a simple data archivist in the Iacon Hall of Records, or what you would call a librarian, known as Orion Pax, and I served under the guidance of my mentor, Alpha Trion."

While the idea of a system that did not even allow certain people to have a real name was horrifying to all of them, some of the humans present could not help but snigger a little at the fact that the large Autobot warrior in front of the was once a simple librarian. Optimus ignored this, though he would not deny that he did find it a little insulting as he was quite proud of the job he once held, and pressed on as though nothing had happened. "Though I did enjoy the life I led, I could not help but feel that we were not meant to live in a society where everything in our very lives were determined from the moment our spark first gained light. Though I wished to change the ways of our world, I was certain that I was alone in my beliefs until I heard people speak of a member in the lower caste, a gladiator in what would become the Decepticon capital city, Kaon, who had defied the ways of our world and taken on a name for himself that he chose, and who triumphed in all his battles in the gladiatorial arena as he promised to one day restore Cybertron to its golden age. His name, the one he had chosen for himself, was that of the same Transformer who came to be known as the Fallen, Megatronus."

"Intrigued by this gladiator, and after seeking advice from Alpha Trion, I journeyed to Kaon to meet with this 'Megatronus'. Once we had met that day, we began to meet more and more, and talk about our ideals and hopes to restore Cybertron to a world where none would have to suffer under the caste system, like in Cybertron's golden age. The more the two of us talked of our ideals, the stronger we found our bond becoming until we realized that we had become more than simple friends to one and other. Megatronus and I had become brothers."

The Autobots, who knew this story all too well, could not help but let out sad smiles at the thoughts of those days when Optimus and Megatron were still brothers, and known as Orion Pax and Megatronus. Elita in particular remembered those days fondly, as it was thanks in no small part to Megatronus that she and Optimus had their first date, something she was still thankful for to this day despite what had happened between the two. Kira and Cagalli both noticed that Optimus had taken on a nostalgic, yet sad smile on his face when he paused in his story and both wondered why that was when Optimus continued his tale to the part that had answered their unasked question.

"Eventually, the High Council had come to hear of these efforts the two of us had begun, and soon, given the reputation that Megatronus had built for himself in the gladiator pits of Kaon and my own connections to the High Council through both Alpha Trion and my predecessors, Zeta and Sentinel Prime, we gained an audience with the High Council. Before he went to stand before them however, Megatronus felt the need to shorten his name. Thus on the day that we came into the Council Chambers, Megatron was born and stood before them."

"Megatron then revealed his true intentions to the High Council, and thus revealed his true nature. In that one meeting, he threatened to overthrow the High Council and declare himself the next Prime. In his speech he spoke of leading Cybertron back to its golden age, but the method he spoke of to carry it out was one that would be through force, destruction and tyranny. As I listened on to all of this, I could not believe that these words, these atrocious plans were being spoken of by the one who I called brother."

"Though I was shocked by this revelation, I could not simply stand idly by as I let him speak of such terrible things, and thus I moved to stand before the council and gave my own speech. I spoke to them that it was true that our world had begun to fall from what it once was, and spoke of a Cybertron not ruled by tyranny or fear, but of autonomy and peace, a world that truly understood once more that freedom is the right of all sentient beings. To this day I am not certain what it was, but as I spoke to them the High Council had seen something in me, or so I was told by Alpha Trion and Sentinel and Zeta, and they were intrigued by the ideals that I spoke of. Though this was good news for the efforts of restoring the old Cybertron in a new age, not all things in that meeting had good results. Feeling as though I had betrayed him, Megatron stormed out of the Council Chamber, infuriated at what had happened. I tried to call out to him, to appeal to his better nature, but Megatron would not heed my words as he now only saw betrayal and felt hatred and anger building up and consuming his very being. After that day, Megatron and I ceased to be brothers and became bitter enemies."

"Shortly after this had occurred, Megatron had assembled all those who believed in his ideals for Cybertron as greatly as he did as well as those who were fiercely loyal to him no matter what and launched an attack against many of Cybertron's most populated areas, declaring war on all those who stood in their way, declaring themselves as the force that would follow through with the plans Megatron spoke of to the High Council, the Decepticons. Seeing that we had now been dragged into war, the High Council and Zeta and Sentinel Prime had no choice but to assemble a force to oppose Megatron, one that believed in the ideals I had spoke of who became known as the Autobots. Thus the war began."

"Though we had hoped to end it quickly, we soon learned that this war would last for far too long for anyone's liking, and we soon faced great casualties on both sides. None much greater than when we lost Sentinel Prime as he led a ship of Autobots to the stars in order to save a precious cargo that would have meant the end of the war for all of us should it have fallen into the Decepticons' hands. Sometime during the war, I found myself reluctantly fighting on the battle field for the Autobot cause, and I soon gained a new name for myself, that name being Optimus. Though I was not a warrior, I soon had to quickly learn the ways of battle and became a force that many Autobots found inspiring, as I continued to fight for the ideals I believed in."

"Though sadly, it did not matter what ideals any of us fought for in the end. As the fighting continued to rage across our world, we soon began to face a terrible power that Megatron had somehow come to wield. A power that was known to many as the Blood of Unicron; Dark Energon. Unlike the pure Energon that courses through all Transformers and is known to be our life blood, Dark Energon held vast and terrible power, even going so far as to resurrect the dead as vile and mindless monstrosities. Somehow Megatron came have it imbued in his very being, and learned to control it enough to launch massive amounts of it into the core of Cybertron, greatly corrupting it."

"Knowing what was happening, Zeta Prime sought out Megatron in an attempt to prevent this, but it only resulted in his capture and eventual demise. After learning of Zeta's fate, I assumed what I had hoped to be temporary command, and led a small team of Autobots to Cybertron's core in an attempt to save it. Sadly we were too late. The Dark Energon had corrupted Cybertron's very core so much that the only way for it to be saved was for the core to be shut down in an attempt to at least save what was left of its pure energy. However in doing so, it meant that the core had to halt its processes of life giving Energon, which was catastrophic for all Transformers, for as I stated, Energon is our very life blood, and without enough of it we would surely perish."

"Though this saddened me, there seemed to still be some hope. As I approached the core, Primus himself looked out at me and saw whatever it was the High Council once saw, and proclaimed that I was worthy not only of the title of Prime, but to carry the one thing that would truly show I was worthy, the Matrix of Leadership. Though normally it only stored the wisdom of the previous Primes, Primus was able to also store a small piece of his being within the Matrix to help guide us and keep the hope of reviving our world one day as a means to light our way across the stars. At long last, I humbly accepted the burden and thus was entrusted with the Matrix, and from that day on, I was now known as Optimus Prime, the Last Prime."

"Though a new Prime gave hope to the Autobots, there was little we could do to save Cybertron. So it was with a heavy spark that I ordered my Autobots to leave our home world, and seek refuge and a way to restore Cybertron among the stars. I do not know how many of our Autobot brothers and sisters had made it safely past Megatron's blockade, but eventually it did not matter as there was only one ship remaining. Taking command of the Autobot ship, the _Ark_, I myself led a group of my finest Autobot soldiers to an unstable Space Bridge portal that was the result of the Decepticon Scientist Shockwave's experiments, for at that point, whatever lied beyond that portal was our best and last hope."

"As we traveled to the portal though, we came under attack by Megatron's new warship, the _Nemesis_. We fought bravely to defend the _Ark_ long enough to reach the portal, but like myself, Megatron had assembled some of his finest warriors aboard the _Nemesis_ along with many other Decepticon troops, and we were vastly outnumbered. Eventually I found myself facing off in a battle to the death against Megatron near the _Ark_'s engines, and we were both evenly matched in skill and combat prowess. Whether that battle would have resulted in one of our ends, we will never know, for at that moment the vortex began tearing the ship apart. Eventually both ships were sucked into the vortex and thrown across the galaxy before vanishing from space. That was the last thing I remembered before awakening from stasis here on Earth just a short ways from where last night's attack had taken place."

With his tale completed, everyone who was not an Autobot was shocked and amazed at what they had heard. Centuries of war amongst their own kind had resulted in these large, metal titans losing the very world they were fighting for. It raised the question in many of their minds: if the war between Earth and the PLANTs continued, would it result in the same thing if not something similar? Even Natarle Badgiruel found herself feeling saddened by the story and sympathetic to the Autobots. True she thought that Optimus's ideals were idealistic, but she would never condone what Megatron had planned for Cybertron. Kira and his friends, with the exception of Flay who did not really care either way, found themselves speechless at what had happened to the Bots, and Kira himself was now able to see just how much Bumblebee's statement about the likeness between Kira and Optimus seemed so true. They were both reluctant to fight in their respective wars, and both now faced an important friend of theirs as an enemy. Kira began to hope and pray that what happened between Optimus and Megatron would not repeat with himself and Athrun.

Optimus's story gave everyone a lot to think about, both in terms of how to help the Autobots and in terms of how similar their current situation was to the one the Autobots faced back on Cybertron, but they were not given much time to think on it as soon enough someone in the camp had sounded an alarm. Sahib quickly grabbed a radio and demanded to know what was wrong. The response he got shook everyone to their core. "The sky is burning! It's in the direction of Tassil!"

Everyone in the Desert Dawn was alarmed at this news, as many of their families were there. Everyone in the Desert Dawn rushed to a vehicle as fast as they could, while the _Archangel_ crew hurried to the ship and Optimus rose from the position he was in as the Autobots moved towards him. The Autobot leader gave an order that all Autobots were all too familiar with and were more than ready to follow as they raced off after the Desert Dawn. "Autobots transform and roll out!"

* * *

_**AN: Okay now that Cagalli seems to be able to keep quite...(Looks around to somewhere off screen) I will start by saying that I wanted Megatron to have Dark Energon in him since his time on Cybertron, but it will have similar effects to the ones it had on Transformers in Transformers Prime. As for those of you who do not like any Flay bashing I've done thus far, I don't care because in case you hadn't noticed the girl was a total witch, and that's putting it nicely, which is really all I can do since I'm usually a very nice guy. With that said, I may or may not have the next chapter up by tomorrow as it is still being written. It may be a couple of days or so before that happens but in the meantime, I encourage you to look at some of my other stories please. I think you might like them just as much as this one. Now then onto the preview.**_

_****_Next time...A town is lost overnight, and the _Archangel's _crew provides relief to the survivors, though some of these officers are better suited to this kind of job than others. Starscream and his forces along with the Desert Tiger have made their marks once again, but this time Kira and Cliffjumper join the resistance fighters in a spectacular battle of revenge. Who will survive, who will be the next casualty, and can the other Autobots arrive to save their comrade in time? **_Next on Mobile Suit Gundam SEED: Prime...**Starscream's Vengeance. **_**_****_**_Roll out and show just what your combined forces can accomplish Cliffjumper and Gundam!_**

**_(Door bursts open) Cagalli: HEY WHAT'S THE BIG IDEA TYING ME UP IN THE CLOSET?!_**

**_AN: EEP! Gotta go!_**

**_Cagalli: YOU GET BACK HERE RIGHT NOW AND TAKE YOUR BEATING LIKE A MAN!_**

**_AN: NO THANKS I CHOOSE LIFE! By the way **_Please read and review._**_**


	6. 6: Starscream's Vengance

_**AN: Okay since some people are so eager to have a few words with me during these note (*cough* Cagalli *cough*) I figured what the hey, but I am starting out safe with someone I know will NOT try and kill me. So ladies and gentlemen, humans and Bots, please welcome the believer that Freedom is the right of all sentient beings, the galaxy's greatest champion of peace, the Autobot Commander himself, Optimus Prime!**_

_**(audience applause) (Optimus rolls onto the set and transformers while giving a wave to everyone)**_

_**Optimus: Greeting lyokoMARVELanime. It is a privilege to be here.**_

_**AN: Optimus believe you me, the honor is mine.**_

_**Optimus: I believe some people have inquired if certain Autobots would be appearing in this tale of yours. Perhaps you could clarify that for myself and them?**_

_**AN: Certainly. I'm not going to say exactly who will be appearing in this story, but I will say that Smokescreen and Ultra Magnus won't be appearing until the very possible sequel for this story, the title of which I'm still juggling around. Also, you should more than likely expect the other Autobots that appeared in Season 1 of Transformers Prime to appear in this story so you can expect that, and like I've demonstrated with the inclusion of Hound and Elita One, others will appear as well.**_

_**Optimus: And another asks if Bulkhead is from the Animated or Prime version of him.**_

_**AN: You kidding? Prime of course, I'd think that'd be obvious by the fact that it was mentioned he's a former Wrecker. Plus I wasn't that big of a fan of Transformers Animated personally. I mean look what they did with your character alone Prime!**_

_**Optimus: Yes I agree with you on that my friend.**_

_**AN: Well we need to get this story rolling so...care to do the honors Optimus?**_

_**Optimus: Of course. lyokoMARVELanime does not own myself, or anything else in the Gundam and/or Transformers franchises and series. Please enjoy.**_

* * *

**Chapter 6: Starscream's Vengeance**

Nearly half of the Desert Dawn had raced off towards Tassil in order to help, including Sahib, Cagalli, Ahmed, and the archer, and along with them, Mu had launched in a Sky Grasper to get there more quickly with a few jeeps carrying a doctor and medical supplies from the _Archangel_. The Autobots also sent a small team to the town as well which consisted of Arcee, Bumblebee, and Cliffjumper. Optimus thought it wise to not deploy all of the Autobots to the field for fear of a Decepticon trap by Starscream.

Mu was the first to arrive at Tassil and as he flew over the desert town, he could not help but feel despair at the amount of destruction. Everything was burning, clearly showing that what was once Tassil was now nothing more than fire and rumble in the desert night.

"Whoa this is bad. Total destruction," the Hawk of Endymion commented as he turned to look out his other window. He then gasped at what he saw. "La Flaga here," Mu called over the radio. "There are survivors from the town…or more precisely a large number of people seem to be fine. I don't understand how or why."

_"__And the enemy,"_ Murrue asked over the radio.

"No sign of them," La Flaga reported. He then saw Sahib and the others' jeeps pull to a stop in front of the group of people that had gathered outside the town, followed by the three Autobots a moment later. He also made a slight note that Bumblebee had opted to change his vehicle mode sometime recently so that he now looked like an Earth sports car with gold paint and black stripes running up the center. He then noticed how the three were not having as much of the same trouble moving through the desert now that Bumblebee had earlier when he was in his vehicle mode and figured that the Bots must have somehow altered something in them that would help them to move through the sandy terrain. Finally, he saw that Arcee had a rider in a black leather outfit, and a black helmet with a tinted visor that would not allow anyone to see the rider's face. _Must be to help her blend in more_, Mu thought as he noted this.

The three Autobots rolled to stop a short distance away as Cagalli, Sahib, and the rest of the Desert Dawn ran up to their families and friends, but did not reassume bipedal mode. As they sat there watching the reunion, Bumblebee let off a series of small trills asking why they were sitting there in alt mode.

"Because Optimus ordered us to remain in vehicular mode unless absolutely necessary," Arcee whispered. "The last thing we need to do right now is to scare these people after their town was just destroyed by giant mobile suits."

"Still that doesn't mean we have to like it Cee," Cliffjumper commented. "I mean we could do a lot more to help these people in robot mode than we could like this."

"I know Cliff, but right now it's for the best."

Bumblebee let off a few trills to indicate that he was still complaining which elicited a soft laugh from Cliffjumper and a groan from Arcee that sounded similar to "Like dealing with a pair of younglings sometimes."

They continued to watch as Natarle pulled up in a jeep with the rest of the team from the _Archangel_, and saw Sahib and Cagalli speak to the town's chief and Sahib's son. They all gave a small, sad smile internally as they watched the happy reunion between father and child, thinking of how good it would feel for many Autobots to have a chance to reunite with their old friends and family members from back on Cybertron. This feeling did not last long as they grew serious and then confused after Sahib asked the all important question, "How many of our people were killed."

"Not a single life has been sacrificed," the chief replied. "They issued a warning to us ahead of time saying they were setting fire to the town and told us to run away."

"But how can this be," Sahib asked. The three Bots were also confused by this. If the Decepticons did have a hand in this, then why would they issue a warning, especially since it was a team led by Starscream? The Decepticon sky commander alone was not known for giving warnings in the past before an attack, let alone any of the Decepticons at all, so why this time?

"And then they set everything ablaze. Food, ammunition, fuel, everything," The chief finished. "Granted we suffered no casualties, but what happens now? How are we expected to live?"

It was a question that made Sahib, Cagalli, and the three Autobots quite upset with both the Desert Tiger and the Decepticon second in command. "Survival is possible you know as long as you're alive," Mu spoke up, getting everyone's attention.

_Whatever you are about to say Mu, you'd better make sure you choose your words carefully,_ Bumblebee thought. "It appears the Tiger has no intention of engaging in a serious battle with you. This is likely payback for what you did to their forces last night. I'd have to say it's relatively generous of the Tiger to let you off with something as minor as this."

_And that last part was most definitely the absolute WRONG thing to say idiot,_ was the shared thought among the three Autobots. "You're kidding me," Cagalli shouted, getting right in Mu's face at that. "You call this minor?! Having a town burned to the ground is nothing to you?! How can you even think of someone who'd do this as generous?!"

"No offense," Mu replied as he raised a hand in a way to attempt to calm the fiery blonde. "I apologize if I upset you in anyway; however the enemy are professional soldiers. I'm sure even you can conceive that if they were serious it would have turned out much worse."

_Okay Mu you seriously need to stop talking before we need a crane to get your foot out of your big fat mouth,_ Bumblebee thought as Cagalli ranted on, still clearly angry at the commander. "That guy's nothing but a lousy, stinking coward. He burns down this poor town while we're not even here and thinks of it as a victory?! Every time we go into battle we manage to fight with courage, we even destroyed their BaCUEs in that last operation, and that's why that jerk commander can only get us back with a response like this. To hell with the Desert Tiger!"

Mu was silent at that, and then noticed that Sahib had called by one his fellow fighters to speak with him off to the side. He then looked back to Cagalli and cringed under her hard glare that could have melted hard metal off a mobile suit. _Yep even on other worlds the Pits hath no fury than a femme scorned_, Bumblebee and Cliffjumper both thought as they had to deal with a similar look being directed at them from Arcee multiple times in the past.

"Yeah uh…the Tiger…What a detestable guy," Mu stated sheepishly as he tried to save a bit of face.

"Same goes for you," Cagalli shouted before she stormed off after Sahib. Mu then heard the people muttering agreements with what Cagalli had said as they glared at him, while Natarle just shot him a look with her arms crossed. The blonde commander only had one thought running through his mind as he lightly trembled under the glares. _I am not gonna be making any fast friends among these people. Open mouth, insert foot._

* * *

Cliffjumper would have shaken his head at Mu right then, but could not for two reasons. One being he was still in vehicle mode, and the other being that he found Sahib's conversation more interesting.

"It hasn't been that long since they withdrew from the area," one Sahib's men reported. "We can still catch up to them."

"They'll be low on ammunition," one of the others said in agreement. "So now would be the perfect opportunity to attack them."

"We will strike back at Z.A.F.T. We can't just sit around here after being treated like this," a third one exclaimed.

"Don't be ridiculous," Sahib chided. "If you're wondering what to do with your time take care of the injured. Stay here and protect your wives and children. That is most is most important of all."

"And how is that supposed to help us," demanded the one who had called Sahib over. "Look the Tassil we knew is gone! Our homes, food, and everything have been burned to the ground! Are we supposed to sit back and weep with our wives and little ones?!"

The third man that had spoke up then turned to Sahib and demanded, "You can't be saying that we should reconcile ourselves to being the Tiger's lap dogs. Is that the case?"

Sahib didn't get a chance to retort as the others had already started heading out. After watching them for a moment, Sahib then boarded a jeep and headed off after them, with Cagalli and Ahmed following shortly after. Cliffjumper knew it wasn't the Autobots place to get in the way of the humans' battles unless the Decepticons were involved, but he couldn't shake the feeling that he needed to go with them. That was when he heard some of the villagers mumbling something.

"What was with those two jets though," the villager asked. "I thought the Tiger only used BaCUEs and helicopters when he went into battle."

"He normally does," another one replied. "At least that's what I heard. Plus those jets didn't even have normal Z.A.F.T. colors, they were blue and silver, and purple and black, and I think a saw a symbol on one that looked like an evil looking face with horns."

"Hey did you two hear that," Cliffjumper asked.

Bumblebee let an affirmative beep as Arcee replied, "Sounds like Thundercracker and Skywarp. We should inform Optimus about this."

"We may not have time," Cliff stated. "Some of those Desert Dawn guys just took off after them, and they won't last long with just one Con there let alone two of them, and who knows how many more. I'm going to go help."

"Cliff you can't go alone," Arcee stated.

**_"_****_Arcee's right buddy, at least let one of us come along as backup,"_** Bumblebee trilled.

"Hey it's me remember," Cliffjumper stated. "I'll be fine." Before either one of the other two could say anything else, the red Autobot revved his engine and raced off across the desert after the guerilla fighters.

"Looks like the wind and people aren't the only things in this land that can get very heated," Mu stated. "So what'll we do?"

Natarle turned away before replying, "Don't ask me, I haven't a clue."

_That makes two of us,_ Arcee thought worried. She then decided that there was only one thing she could do. "Optimus this is Arcee. We have a situation."

* * *

It was now morning and Waltfeld and his soldiers were just taking their time heading back to their base with the Decepticons in their bipedal modes just walking along as well. Needless to say this was not agreeable with some people, or should I say some Cons.

"Why the Pits are we going at this speed when we could have returned to base by now," the blue, silver, and red trimmed Seeker Thundercracker demanded.

"You eager to back or something Noisemaker," Waltfeld asked.

"My name is _Thundercracker_ you insolent little bug!"

"Sir I actually have to agree," Waltfeld's right hand man Dacosta commented. "At the speed we're going they'll catch up to us."

Waltfeld just put his hands behind his head and leaned back in his seat as he gave a casual reply. "Then we're meant to meet. It's fate."

"What are you talking about human," Thundercracker's brother Skywarp asked. Neither of the Seekers understood why Starscream insisted that they come with this human, but they had an even harder time understanding why they were in this alliance at all if all humans were like this. Not that they had any intention of questioning and/or arguing with Megatron, they left that to their older brother, Starscream.

"For one thing their artillery trucks are no match against our BaCUEs and unless they bring those Autobots along, I highly doubt that they'll be much of a problem for you two fellas," Waltfeld told the large black and purple Con. "Whenever people are put to the test I often hear them boast I'd rather die, but do you think they honestly mean it?"

That gave both Dacosta and the two Seekers a pause, until said Cons smirked a bit at that as Thundercracker stated, "Actually now that you mention it, the only Autobot I've ever known to mean it would be Prime's little Scout and look what happened to him."

"Yeah he got exactly what he deserved for his 'loyalty' to Prime," Skywarp agreed.

"Oh yeah? What happened to him exactly? I am assuming you mean the one we ran into the other night," Waltfeld inquired.

The two Decepticons chuckled at the memory before Skywarp answered, "Lord Megatron decided that if the scout would not speak to him then he would never speak again, and crushed out the pathetic scout's voice box."

Now that had Waltfeld's attention. He had no idea that these Decepticons were so brutal in their interrogation methods that they would go as far as that. The mere idea of never being able to speak again gave him reason to question the supreme council's judgment on aligning themselves with these beings. At least until one of his BaCUE pilots radioed in reporting, "Commander, there are vehicles approaching us from behind. Six…no eight vehicles. They appear to be those of the resistance fighters."

Waltfeld then smirked a bit. "Maybe those people would rather die after all," He thought aloud.

"Sir," the same pilot then reported. "There also appears to be another vehicle approaching. It doesn't appear to be one of the resistance fighters, but I don't think it's one of the ones of the Autobots we fought the other night. I think it might be a new one."

Waltfeld turned to look at the Seeker twins as Thundercracker chuckled, "I recognize that signal. It is an Autobot alright, come to save the little humans. What do you say we have some fun Skywarp my brother."

"Huh, I was hoping you'd ask Thundercracker," Skywarp replied as he shifted his right arm into his favorite weapon, the Gear Shredder.

A moment later, the Desert Dawn's jeeps had burst onto the scene, and soon after they were firing bazookas right into the path of Waltfeld's vehicle. Dacosta quickly pulled the vehicle out of the way as one of the BaCUEs moved to intercept the shots that followed after. Though their prime target was Waltfeld, the guerilla fighters were more than willing to take out a few BaCUEs along the way if they had to. It was not long before Cagalli and her group had landed a disabling blow to one BaCUE unit, or so they thought. A moment later, the BaCUE pilot had retracted the legs to fold up so it could race across the desert on its treads instead of moving around on legs like an animal.

Skywarp smirked at the sight of watching the humans squirm under the might of the larger machines, and decided then and there to put them out of their misery. He took careful aim with his Gear Shredder and prepared to launch a single spinning blade from it at Cagalli and Ahmed's jeep when he was rammed in the side by a red blur.

"What in the pits…," he cried out as he turned to what had hit him, and then smirked a bit at the sight of Cliffjumper assuming his bipedal mode.

"Sorry Skywarp, but you're not scrapping anything or anyone else today," Cliffjumper stated confidently.

"Are you sure about that?" Not a moment after Skywarp had asked that, a sonic shockwave had hit Cliffjumper in his back, causing him to lose his balance for a moment and take a hit to his leg from Skywarp's Gear Shredder. He spun around and spotted Thundercracker with his hand out, indicating he had just hit him with a Shockwave burst. Not a moment later, Decepticon flyer drones started to drop in on the Autobot warrior to join the fray.

"Ah scrap," Cliffjumper moaned softly. He then gathered up his confidence and charged shouting, "Alright Cons, time for you to get the horns!"

Meanwhile, Cagalli and the mystery archer had jumped clear of the jeep before it was hit by a BaCUE, but Cagalli's friend Ahmed was not so lucky. Cagalli watched in horror as her friend was flung through the air and neither she nor the mystery archer saw the BaCUE getting ready to fire on Sahib and the others until a beam blast hit the large mobile armor. "The Strike," Cagalli gasped upon seeing the large blue and white mobile suit flying across the desert with the Aile Striker pack keeping the suit air born for as long as it could.

The Strike then fired off another shot, which missed its intended target. "The heat convection must be off," Kira commented aloud. He then had the Strike land and run across the ground for a moment as he typed a few new commands into the Strike's programming. A moment later, the Strike was back in the air, and firing off blasts from its beam rifle that hit its targets with no problem at all.

_Kid works fast I'll give him that,_ Cliffjumper thought to himself as he smashed his fist into another Con drone. He then saw Thundercracker preparing to fire an arm missile at the Strike, and quickly tackled said Con, throwing his aim off. "Kid," Cliff called out over a radio frequency he knew Kira could use to respond with. "You worry about the BaCUEs. Leave these scrap headed Cons to me."

"Roger that Cliffjumper," Kira replied over the radio as he took aim at another BaCUE. Before he could fire, he was hit in the side by one of the other machines. "The third machine is still running?"

The third BaCUE was in fact fighting still, but what Kira did not know was that Waltfeld had taken over for the previous pilot so that he could test Kira's skills first hand. Cliff on the other hand had spotted this and was ready to lend a hand when he was nailed in the arm from an unknown shooter.

"Surprise Autobot," a snide voice boasted. Cliffjumper looked up and saw Starscream walking over, switching his arm blaster from Nucleon Charge rifle to his own arm. "I must admit, I was hoping for either Prime or his wretched scout, but you'll do just as well I suppose."

Now Cliffjumper was worried, because Starscream had all but confirmed that he and his two Seeker brothers were expecting this to happen. Granted he was glad the lone female member of the Seeker family was not present, but that was a small comfort at best given his situation. "Uh Arcee," Cliffjumper radioed. "About that backup?"

_"__Don't worry Cliff,"_ Arcee responded. _"Optimus is already on the way with the others in tow, and Bumblebee and I should be there soon enough as well. Just try to hold out for a few cycles."_

"I don't think I have that long," Cliffjumper stated solemnly. Even though his confidence was shaken and it seemed like he was going to go down, if there was one thing you could be sure of when it came to Cliffjumper, it's that he would not be going down without a fight.

This fact proved to be true as he switched his right hand into his default blaster mode and let loose a volley of Energon blasts at the three Seekers. He then prepared to spare a shot for Kira but saw that it was not necessary as Kira had already taken out one of his opponents by having the Strike discard its shield and letting said shield collide with one of the BaCUEs as it passed. As soon as the mobile suit spun around, it used its free hand to pull out a beam saber from its backpack and back flipped to throw up a sand wall to block the missile fire that was then sent its way. When a BaCUE leapt into the air to try and take Kira by surprise, the pilot of the BaCUE was the one who ended up surprised as the Strike emerged from the small dust cloud with its beam rifle already primed and aimed directly at where the BaCUE was.

_Whoa, where did all that come from,_ Cliff wondered for a moment as he fired another volley at some drones trying to charge him and swung his fist at another. _Bumblebee said that this kid was nothing like a trained fighter and yet the moves he's pulling are that of a powerful warrior. Either his recent battle experience has made him a stronger fighter than we thought or this is something else entirely, but what could that be?_

Cliffjumper did not have time to ponder this more, as a searing pain suddenly ran through his right leg, followed by a blast to his blaster arm disabling said arm almost completely. Cliffjumper fell to his knees and looked to see that a razor disk had completely embedded itself into his leg at the knee, nearly cutting right through it. Before he could even attempt to struggle back to his feet, Skywarp suddenly appeared right next to the bull horn headed Autobot and hit him hard in the side.

Starscream chuckled at the pathetic sight of the lone Autobot warrior struggling for his life, and prepared to finish the job when he got a call from Waltfeld. _"Starscream, we're retreating."_

Starscream looked to the machine that Waltfeld was piloting and saw that one of its legs had been sliced clean off by the Strike's beam saber. Being disgusted at having to take orders from this human and at the idea of having to leave right then, Starscream decided that it would be better to not leave completely empty handed. "Just a moment Commander Waltfeld," the silver seeker replied. "I intend to leave a small message of my own for Prime and his Autobots."

He then stalked up to Cliffjumper with a sadistic, vile smirk on his face. "So little Autobot, any last words?"

Cliffjumper let out a small, indistinguishable groan at that. "Oh do please speak up," Starscream mocked. "I can't hear you."

"Get…fragged…Screamer," Cliffjumper breathed out.

Starscream merely chuckled. "Sorry, but the only one here who is being fragged is you. Goodbye Cliffjumper!" With that, he plunged his sharp fingered hand right through Cliffjumper's torso, and mere moments later, the light left the valiant Autobot's eyes. Kira and Cagalli both looked on in horror at what had just happened, and then Kira felt a ferocious anger welling up inside him.

"NO," Kira shouted as he charged the Strike right at Starscream, swinging the machine's beam saber at the flying Decepticon wildly as soon as he was close enough. Starscream merely sidestepped every swing with the same smirk, enjoying every moment of the human child's anguish.

_"__Starscream, if you're done, it's time to go now,"_ Waltfeld shouted.

"But of course Commander Waltfeld," Starscream replied casually. He then slammed an open palm into the Strike, knocking it onto its back, and jostling the pilot inside the cockpit. "Perhaps next time young pilot," the seeker mocked before he transformed into his jet mode and blasted off into the air with Thundercracker and Skywarp not far behind.

Once Waltfeld saw that the Seekers were leaving the battle field, he then pushed his machine's controls to the maximum so that he could catch up to his men. He then smirked as he then thought back to the pilot of the Earth Force's mobile weapon and how well the mysterious pilot seemed to do against him and his men on his own. "Heh, now that's my kind of guy," he commented to himself, still meaning the Strike pilot. "Been a while since I had that much fun."

He then glanced to the side as he saw the Seekers in the air alongside him and his troops and thought to himself, _Even if this is a war, how do we know when one side or the other has won, especially with guys like those with us? Is command really sure about them, or are they just being played along by these things, or _is there more going on here than meets the eye?__

* * *

A short while later, Kira had dismounted the Strike and walked up to Cagalli, Sahib and the surviving members of the Desert Dawn. He gave them a small unreadable look as he removed his helmet before asking, "You trying to get yourselves killed?"

Cagalli just stared at him in shock at that, but before Kira or anyone else could say anything, the sound of roaring engines reached their ears. They all turned and a moment later, the other Autobots had raced onto the scene and assumed their bipedal mode, weapons charging up, ready for action, with Optimus in the lead. Once they noticed that their assistance was no longer needed, they quickly stood down. Optimus looked around and stated, "I apologize for our late arrival, but as you are no doubt aware by now, even with our alt modes, it takes quite some time for us to travel across this desert."

Arcee then looked around for Cliffjumper, thinking he would be standing nearby waiting to boast how he was able to hold off the Cons all on his own, but did not see the large red Bot anywhere. "Where is he," she asked.

Kira looked up at Arcee for a moment before she clarified, "Where is Cliffjumper?"

Cagalli looked down in shame, as Kira looked sadly off to the side. The other Autobots all followed his gaze and then gasped in shock. There, lying in the sand was Cliffjumper, severely damaged and appearing lifeless. Elita One quickly ran over to him to see if there was something she could do, but all she needed was a few scans, before she stood up and sadly reported the one thing none of the Autobots ever wanted to hear about their comrade. "It's too late. Cliffjumper's spark has gone completely dark. He is offline."

"By the AllSpark," Bulkhead gasped.

"No," Hound exclaimed in a whisper.

Bumblebee let out small trill that showed that he could not believe what he had just heard either, and while he remained silent during these exclamations, the pain Optimus felt at this news was clear in his optics. Arcee let out a small gasp, before she quickly started to let out a small sob into Bumblebee's torso. Sadly, the only thing the young scout could do to comfort his friend at the moment, was give her a small hug in return to try and reassure her, that there was still hope for the future.

Optimus then turned to the humans and went to say something before Kira quickly called out. "I'm sorry Optimus. I should've tried to do something to help him."

"This tragedy is not something you should bare the blame for Kira Yamato," Optimus reassured him softly. "The only ones at fault for this are the Decepticons who staged this act of aggression." He then looked to all the humans present as he continued. "Though we have lost a great comrade today, we have also gained new allies, if not in all, but in the few humans we have met and fought alongside with since we had arrived here on your world. Though we did not intend to bring other worlds into this war, your world is now caught up in it, and for that I cannot apologize enough. However despite the fact that we are now allies with you, it does not mean that we can simply charge off into battle in retaliation for every act of aggression that our enemies launch against us needlessly and foolishly, lest we wish to meet our end."

The Desert Dawn was all slightly confused by this, but Kira understood what he meant, as he continued with what he was saying earlier. "He's right. In a place like this there's absolutely reason for any of you-"

"That's the last straw," Cagalli interrupted in anger. "You heartless moron! Just look!" She then gestured to her late friend Ahmed before continuing her rant. "They fought desperately! We're all fighting desperately all so we can protect the things and people that are so important to us!"

Arcee was now angry with the blonde girl, and would have moved to do something to Cagalli herself if Bumblebee had not held her back. The blue femme shot Bumblebee and angered look but then softened immediately when she saw the scout giving his friend a sad look of his own while shaking his head clearly sending the silent message that it was not the time. Then they both heard a loud slap and saw that Kira had beaten everyone to the punch.

To the shock and surprise of Sahib, Cagalli, and almost all of the Autobots save for Optimus, Kira had slapped Cagalli across the face. As they all continued to stare in surprise, Kira gave Cagalli an angered glare as he shouted out, "What the hell can you protect when your feelings are the only weapons you've got?!"

Optimus looked down in sorrow as he knew for a fact that Kira was right in that regard. There was only so much one could do with feelings alone, for if one were to fight with nothing more than their feelings it would only result in greater amounts of disaster. After allowing the moment to pass, he had the Autobots collect Cliffjumper's remains so that they could give the valiant soldier a proper burial after they returned to the _Archangel_ and the temporary base, knowing full well that they all had much to think about.

* * *

**_AN: Okay, I know some of you will hate me for killing off Cliffjumper like in the show, but to be fair, I want this story to be as much like both series as possible while still throwing in my own twists and turns._**

**_Optimus: The sight and knowledge of my Autobots losing their lives does sadden me greatly, but I intend to ensure that their sacrifice shall never be in vain nor forgotten._**

**_AN: And that folks is another reason why Optimus is one of the greatest heroes of all time. A heart of gold for others and such care and respect for his comrades and friends whether they are living or passed on. Respect to ya Prime._**

**_Optimus: Thank you my friend. Now I believe that there is a chapter preview which must be given._**

**_AN: but of course..._**

**_Enemies surround Kira and the Autobot on the battlefield and off. Sai is driven to desperate measures when it's clear that Flay wants nothing more to do with him. Outside a radical group launches an attack on an unsuspecting Kira and Cagalli. Matters are not made any better when Decepticon drones join the fray, pulling Hound and Bulkhead into the action in their duties as the two's current Autobot protectors. Security and comfort are offered up by an overzealous civilian who turns out to be none other than the Desert Tiger who also wishes to have a chance to meet at least one of the Autobots face to face. How will the human pair and the two Wreckers get out of this one? Meanwhile unknown to anyone but a few, a certain individual learns about the two faction of Cybertron and sees it as an unexpected opportunity for himself and his followers. What could this mean for the Autobots and the Decepticons? _****_Next time on Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Prime..._Fangs of the Enemy, Known and Unknown. ****_Blast that shadow and be ready to call for clean up Gundam and Wreckers!_**

**_AN: Optimus thank you again for coming and hope to see you again soon whether it be out in action in anything including this story, or just for another Author's note._**

**_Optimus: Thank you my friend. This was quite enjoyable actually._**


	7. 7: Fangs of the Enemy Known and Unknown

_**AN: Please welcome the main man of Gundam SEED himself, Kira Yamato!**_

**_[Audience applause]_**

**_Kira: Hi everyone, great to be here._**

**_AN: Kira it is great to have you here, now what are your opinions on this new rendition of your adventures with the _****Archangel**_** so far?**_

_**Kira: Honestly it was hard enough to deal with it all the first time, but now we've got Autobots, Decepticons, wars for alien planets, and not to mention what's going to happen with Starscream and-**_

_**AN: WHOA! HEY WITH THE SPOILER!**_

_**Kira: Oh right sorry. Though I have to admit this next bit was probably the most nerve racking of all my adventures at least in terms of the ones I had back in these days.**_

_**AN: Well I find it hard to argue with you there. Well now shall we get the ball rolling?**_

_**Kira: Sure thing. Oh and before we forget, lyokoMARVELanime does not own either the Gundam or Transformers franchises or any other franchise mentioned.**_

_**AN: Thanks for that Kira.**_

_**Kira: No problem.**_

* * *

**Chapter 7: Fangs of the Enemy, Known and Unknown**

_"I gave very simple orders, and yet I hear reports that you defied those orders and launched an operation against the Autobots and those pathetic humans,"_ Megatron roared over the communicator. Starscream was not sure how the Decepticon leader had found out about what had happened, but he had and he was furious.

"Uh…no of course not Lord Megatron," Starscream stuttered, trying to save face and cover up what he had done. "We had acted out of self defense. Th-the operation was merely supposed to be one carried out by the human troops and I simply wished to provide a small show of good faith by a-allowing some of our forces to sh-shadow them in case of an Autobot attack."

_"SILENCE! I will not tolerate your pathetic excuses Starscream! You had best hope that the next bit of information I hear about this 'show of good faith' is one that pleases me."_

Starscream smirked at that, as he knew exactly what to tell his lord and master. "Would it help if I were to tell you that one particular elite Autobot soldier's spark has been snuffed?"

Megatron's curiosity was now piqued. _"That would depend on the Autobot."_

"I'm sure you remember Cliffjumper."

_"The Autobot that infiltrated one of our last Energon refineries back on Cybertron using experimental Autobot cloaking technology?"_

"The very same. I am proud to say that I snuffed his spark myself. In your name of course."

Megatron gave a small smile at that. _"Well now…that does make things easier on your part."_

Starscream mentally gave a sigh of relief at that. "Thank you Lord Megatron. I live only to serve you as always."

_"See to it that you do not forget that. Now then, I need you to return to the _Nemesis _at once for new orders concerning future operations including the operation that your current human partner is about to carry out in the near future," _Megatron then informed the Seeker.

"Of course Master. I shall await the Ground Bridge."

_"Sadly Starscream the Ground Bridge is still offline. You will have to reach us on your own power."_

Starscream let out a soft growl at that. Though as a Seeker he did enjoy the thrill of flight, he despised having to use it for such long travel, especially when it came to traveling fast enough to exit a gravity well. "I shall be there as soon as possible Master."

The transmission then ended and Starscream turned to exit his current quarters. He then looked to see his brothers sitting around having a small conversation, about what he did not care, and gave a small cough to get their attention. "I will be returning to the _Nemesis_ the old fashion way in order to receive new orders about our master's next move in his grand scheme. Make sure that our human allies don't do anything to get themselves killed."

"Yeah, yeah," Thundercracker replied.

"Relax Scream, we got this," Skywarp then piped up.

"Ugh. Somehow I can't help but wonder about that," Starscream muttered as he then exited the bay. Once outside, the Seeker family leader leapt into the air, transformed into his jet mode, and then blasted off into the sky in order to begin his ascent into space.

Watching from close by was one Andrew Waltfeld, the Desert Tiger. He watched Starscream go with a small smirk on his face, knowing that he would be able to go about his business today without having to worry about the Decepticon first lieutenant looking over his every move. _Well let's go enjoy and see what kind of surprises today has in store for us shall we,_ Waltfeld thought as he slipped on a pair of sunglasses.

* * *

Though everyone wished to grieve the most recent loss of their comrades, the Autobots were the only ones who had the time to give an ally a proper burial. Optimus had given a small eulogy in Cliffjumper's honor which served to remind everyone from Cybertron why they could not give up their fight against the Decepticons. Despite this knowledge, it did not stop Arcee from crying throughout the night. She was extremely thankful that Bumblebee was the only one who knew about this, as he had offered to keep her company after hearing her soft sobs.

Even with this small comfort of knowing at least one fallen soldier was given a proper burial, everyone knew it was necessary to gather supplies for the people of Tassil and for the _Archangel_ as well if the ship were to make the journey to Alaska. With that in mind, a small team set out for the one city that Sahib knew of that they could get the necessary supplies from, but there were a few small problems with that plan. The supplies were going to be gathered through a contact that they felt they could not trust, and the town was run by Z.A.F.T., or more specifically the Desert Tiger, meaning that the Decepticons would more than likely be there.

Never the less they had to send someone, and so after much consideration, they decided that Sahib, Badgiruel, the Desert Dawn's mystery archer known as Kisaka, Kira, and Cagalli would head into the town to gather the supplies with Bulkhead and Hound acting as Autobot guardians for the mission in vehicular mode, or as Bulkhead put it, "through curbside duty".

The following morning the group arrived in the town, with Kira and Cagalli departing from the group along with the two Wreckers so they could gather the supplies that they could easily find on the market themselves while the others handled everything else. Once Bulkhead and Hound saw the town, they could not believe that they were in enemy territory. Not only had they not seen a single Con since arriving, but all the people seemed lively, carefree, and to be enjoying going about their daily lives like nothing was wrong.

"We'll see you in exactly four hours," Cagalli told the archer.

Kisaka nodded as he warned Cagalli to be extremely careful, to which she replied that he do the same. "Dismissed Ensign-…uh Kira," Badgiruel stuttered, clearly not used to addressing Kira so informally. She then blushed a bit as she struggled to continue saying, "I…I'm counting on you."

Bulkhead and Hound had to struggle not to snicker at the fact the _Archangel_'s second in command was so terrible at this kind of thing when it came to acting undercover, and Natarle was glad when the group had decided to leave. Cagalli then turned to Kira and saw that he was just standing around staring. Deciding to snap him out of it, she walked up and asked, "Hey what's with the stunned look on your face? You are supposed to be my bodyguard, aren't you?"

"I was under the impression that **we** were supposed to be the bodyguards for you two," Hound told the blonde haired girl.

"She means from anything that isn't a Con Hound," Bulkhead stated.

"You sure this is where the Desert Tiger's headquarters are," Kira finally asked after another minute of silence.

"Actually we were kind of wondering the same thing," Bulkhead then piped in. "Me and Hound have seen cities where the enemy makes their bases at plenty of times on Cybertron. Now I may not be all that knowledgeable on how humans do things, but this seems a far stretch from anything like Kaon."

Cagalli gave a small sigh in understanding before gesturing for them to follow her. Not wanting to blow their cover just yet, the two Autobots checked to make sure no one was paying much attention to them before slowly rolling after the two humans. Kira and the Bots then gasped at what they saw. There were what appeared to be the remains of a few buildings, and in the background was the _Lesseps_, the Desert Tiger's mobile command center.

"It may look peaceful, but appearances can be deceiving," Cagalli calmly stated as she looked toward the large transport that stood above the city. "And there you have it. That is the real ruler of the city. Anyone who rebels is mercilessly dealt with, because this place belongs to Z.A.F.T. To the Desert Tiger."

Kira sighed in despair, knowing he could not ignore these facts. He had a hunch that things were bad on both the space and Earth fronts when it came to where Z.A.F.T. and the Earth Forces had their bases set up, but this was not what he had expected at all. Bulkhead and Hound also could not help but feel sad for the people being there, but being both Autobots and Wreckers it meant that it was nothing they had not seen before on Cybertron when it came to the Decepticons. None of them noticed that they were being watched by a man in a red and yellow t-shirt, a ridiculous hat, and a pair of sunglasses.

* * *

Meanwhile back at the _Archangel_, anyone nearby could hear Murdoch complaining about the mess that Kira had left in the Strike's cockpit as he threw out the garbage inside to Flay who was busy picking it up. Murrue Ramius and Mu La Flaga were watching this take place for a bit before leaving to discuss the situation that had developed between Kira and Flay, both knowing that it was not a good situation, mostly for Kira though. They both realized they had forgotten that despite the skills he had recently displayed as a pilot he was still just a young boy who has had no form of real training, and the pressure had started to get to Kira without any of them realizing it, though beyond allowing Kira to go into the city with the others they had no idea of how to deal with it. They both seemed so worried by all this that eventually, sometime during their musings, they found themselves in the Autobot's makeshift temporary headquarters.

It was not an actual base to say the least, but more of a ship that was either in disrepair or under construction. Sometime recently in the last twenty four hours they had learned that Elita had the other Autobots that were with her gather up what they could of the remains of the _Ark_ that had landed here with them in order to at least build a small makeshift Autobot craft that they could at least use to travel across the planet without their usual Ground Bridge technology or assuming vehicle mode. After hearing that the _Archangel_ was headed for Alaska, and knowing that they could not attempt to even begin construction on the Cybertronian short range teleporter system, the Autobots had redoubled their efforts to complete the craft so that they could travel with the Earth Forces vessel. When asked why the Autobots were going with the _Archangel_, Optimus had stated that he believed that it would be the best course of action to locate the other Autobots and deal with the Decepticon forces at the current time.

Optimus himself was actually the one who noticed the two when they entered the ship and brought their attention to their surroundings when he approached them. "Is something troubling the two of you Captain Ramius and Commander La Flaga," the Last Prime inquired as he moved to speak with them, taking a short break from his work as he did.

"Yes actually," Murrue replied as she looked to the large red and blue titan. "It's actually to do with Kira. I suppose you've heard by now that he and Flay have recently struck up a thing between the two of them?"

"Bumblebee had mentioned it to me, along with his beliefs on the matter," Optimus replied, his tone stating that he actually agreed with Bumblebee on the matter, not that either of the two officers knew what those beliefs were.

"Well I guess that shortens things for us a bit," Mu then sighed. "I honestly feel like I should have seen it coming. I mean Kira's so skilled out on the battlefield we all seem to forget his background and don't think to consider what goes on in his head."

"At this point we're really just trying to figure out how to handle the situation," Murrue then told Optimus.

Optimus paused for a moment as he considered what the two have said. He knew Bumblebee was more than likely correct in his assumptions that Flay Allster was merely using Kira's feelings for her as a way to make sure that her wish to use Kira to get revenge for the death of her father and ensure Kira continued to fight given what he had seen of her thus far, but did not wish to alarm the two human adults into doing something that may cause more harm than good for the situation. He himself had seen a few good Autobots fall prey to similar actions during the war on Cybertron, and knew that there was really only one thing to do about it.

"I believe that the situation involving Kira Yamato and Flay Allster will remedy itself in due time," Optimus informed them. "As for Kira himself, that may take time as well. The best thing to do for Kira would be to make sure that he never loses sight of himself by ensuring that he is surrounded by people he considers to be his friends and comrades as a way to help him ease the pain of knowing what actions he would have had to take while on the battlefield."

Murrue and Mu both smiled at Optimus in thanks, and would have continued the conversation to other topics that were not so serious had Optimus's little break not been cut short all of a sudden. "Optimus," a clearly irritated Elita One shouted, causing said Autobot leader to give a slight jump.

"Y-yes Elita," Optimus stammered, something that only Elita One could make the Autobot leader do.

"How in the name of Primus do you expect us to get this ship ready to so much as lift off the ground if you don't put in the same effort as the rest of us in getting it ready," Elita ranted.

The _Archangel_ captain and pilot could not stop the snickers that came out as they tried to suppress their laughter at the sight of the mighty Optimus Prime quivering in fear of his sparkmate's wrath while trying to give a good excuse. Though if they knew what Elita could more than likely do to Optimus if she was angry, they would probably be more understanding.

They were about to be more understanding when Elita rounded on them. "And you two," the dark pink femme shouted getting them both to snap to attention. "If either of you sees the two lovebirds out there tell them to get their tailpipes back here now!"

"Uh…lovebirds," Mu asked as both he and Murrue raised a questioning eyebrow.

"I'm talking about Arcee and Bumblebee."

The two Earth Forces soldiers gave a small nod of understanding and turned to leave, letting the sparkmates get back to work, Optimus making sure that Elita knew he was putting his best effort into his work. Never let it be in doubt that if there is one thing that Optimus Prime fears as much as any other person, it is the wrath of a woman scorned, at least in the case of Elita One.

* * *

As it turned out, Bumblebee and Arcee had actually taken a break when Elita was not paying attention so that Arcee could get some air. Bumblebee was not sure what had happened, but something had happened that caused Arcee to think of her late partner, and he felt that his friend needed to step outside for a short amount of time. As the two wandered about, doing their best to avoid anyone's gaze, they saw Kira's friend, Miriallia standing outside the _Archangel_'s airlock looking around worriedly. She seemed to cheer up a bit after a conversation with her friend Tolle, but they decided to approach anyway, for the sake of both alleviating the girl's worries and for the sake of finding something to get Arcee's mind off Cliffjumper.

"Is everything okay," Arcee asked, her voice still sounding slightly hoarse after last night. The two human friends looked to see her and Bumblebee standing there and both gave small smiles in response.

"Yeah we're fine," Miriallia replied. "I was just having some trouble relaxing. These days it's actually hard to without Kira around."

Bumblebee trilled what sounded like a question, but neither Miriallia nor Tolle could understand a word he said and sent Arcee a look that was clearly a silent request for a translation. "Bumblebee wants to know why you feel that way."

"Well you see, ever since Heliopolis," Miriallia explained. "Kira's been doing so much to keep us safe, and even though we all volunteered to help out on the ship as a way of helping him, I can't help but feel better knowing he's close by and ready for action. I know that probably seems selfish of me, but even so I can't help but feel nervous without him here."

Bumblebee started to say something, when Arcee stopped him by placing a hand on his shoulder. "If it makes you feel any better, some of us Autobots have felt the same way at one point or another about Optimus," Arcee told the brown haired girl. When she and Tolle looked at Arcee in surprise, she continued saying, "At one point or another, Optimus seemed so much like our best hope for ending the war that some of us ended up putting all our cards on him thinking he could end everything alone. Eventually though, we all reminded ourselves that Optimus is still only one Bot and even he needs help sometimes. He may be a Prime, but that doesn't mean he's invincible. Having you guys around is probably what allows Kira to remember what he is fighting for and that he's not alone in his battle, just like having us around reminds Optimus that there is always hope as long as there are others who share in his beliefs."

Miriallia giggled a little and then nodded to Arcee in thanks for that before Tolle said, "Of course, and until Kira gets back, we'll just do everything we can to protect everyone ourselves."

Arcee smiled a bit at that as Bumblebee trilled something that sounded like good luck and do not worry to the two before they heard Murrue and Mu calling out to them. As soon as they had received Elita's message from the two Earth Forces officers, they quickly made their way back to the ship so they could get the ship flying and so they could avoid Elita's wrath themselves.

* * *

Back in the city, Kira and Cagalli had stopped at a small café to take a break for lunch with Bulkhead and Hound parked a short distance away from them. Kira let out a tired sigh as he set down the bags he had to carry for the past few hours that contained all the goods that they had acquired. Cagalli looked at the list she had as she reported, "We managed to get most of the things we needed, but the request that Flay girl made are so ridiculous. Lotion, beauty cleanser and moisturizer? None of those things are sold around here."

_Oh I can think of something that needs to be cleansed when it comes to that red haired fragger_, the two Wreckers thought when they heard Cagalli mention Flay's request, having heard about her and what she had been doing from Bumblebee along with the other Autobots. Kira and Cagalli's server then returned with their order which Kira gave a questioning look. "What is this," Kira asked.

"These are Doner Kabobs," Cagalli replied happily. "Well why don't we dig in huh? First add some of this chili sauce-"

"Hold it right there! Wait just a moment," A man interrupted as he grabbed the bottle of yogurt sauce. Kira and Cagalli turned to see the same man that was watching them earlier now standing there with a smile on his face. "How can you stoop to put chili sauce on your kabob? Now this yogurt sauce is the proper thing to add to such a dish. Or rather than saying it's the proper thing how should I put it?" He then paused for a moment before continuing. "Right. Not adding yogurt sauce to this dish is considered a form of sacrilege against Doner kabobs."

Kira looked at the strange man weirdly, clearly confused by the eccentric stranger. Bulkhead and Hound just watched while wondering why he was saying something so strange and ridiculous. "You got a screw lose or something," Cagalli asked as she squirted chili sauce on her kabobs, causing said stranger to gasp in fear and shock at the sight. "Who invited you anyway? You've got no right to walk up to strangers and tell them how to eat their food."

"What a terrible waste," the man said as he turned away while Cagalli took a bite out of her Kabob. _There's a chance he just might have a screw lose if he's getting so worked up about this._ The two Wreckers thought as they watched on.

As soon as Cagalli finished her mouthful of kabob she held out the chili sauce to Kira. "Here you too," she all but ordered, to which Kira just gave an unintelligible "Uh…"

"These kabobs and chili sauce are made for each other," the blonde insisted.

"Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey! No wait don't force your bad habits on this guy," the stranger exclaimed as he reached out towards Kira's kabobs with the yogurt sauce, getting into small struggle with Cagalli that ended with them both squirting the respective sauces onto Kira's dish.

_Are they seriously getting into an argument over this?_ Bulkhead wondered.

_What does it really matter what they each think goes better with it?_ Hound thought.

_How did I get sucked into this argument?_ Kira thought.

None of them realized they were being watched. Or more specifically, the three humans were being watched by members of Blue Cosmos, the extremist group that wanted to wipe all Coordinators out and were planning to attack one of the now three individuals at the table.

"What do you think is the story with those two vehicles off to the side though," one of them asked.

"Who cares, the kids are probably borrowing their parents' rides or something. It doesn't really matter so long as we end that stinkin' coordinator," his friend replied.

Meanwhile the stranger had taken a seat at Kira and Cagalli's table to make a bit of small talk. "Well I really must apologize for that," the stranger told Kira as he took a bite out of his own kabob.

"Actually, no," Kira replied with a smile. "The mixture of the two isn't bad."

The stranger then laid back in his seat as he glanced at Kira and Cagalli's bags. "Well just look at the shopping you guys did," he commented. "So are you planning to throw a party?"

"Keep your trap shut," Cagalli snapped. "It's really none of your business. First thing I wanna know is who are you? You sit at our table and start lecturing us about stupid stuff."

Before she could continue, the sound of bazooka being fired went off, getting both the stranger and Kira's attention. "Hit the dirt," the stranger cried out as he kicked the table up into the air while Kira tackled Cagalli to the ground, but not before she was covered in chili sauce and just about everything else that was on the table. A moment later a rocket hit the shop causing it to explode.

"What the scrap was that," Bulkhead cried out.

"Bulk! Up on the roof of the building and on the ground a short ways ahead and to the left," Hound shouted over the explosion. Bulkhead looked from where he was as best he could in vehicle mode, and saw the man who fired the bazooka on the roof with a group of humans running through the smoke firing guns.

Shouts of "Die coordinator you rotten space invader!" and "For the preservation of our blue and pure world!" told Cagalli exactly who was attacking them as the stranger and some others from nearby started drawing guns and returning fire from behind overturned tables. "Those guys are Blue Cosmos," Cagalli snarled. Bulkhead and Hound both heard her, and wanted to move in and help, but had to sit and watch from where they were or risk exposing themselves.

Kira then noticed one of the assailants had dropped his gun and saw another of to the side in the stranger's blind spot. Thinking quickly, Kira dashed out from cover and grabbed the dropped weapon, but instead of firing it he tossed the gun towards the other assailant and caused him to fire his gun harmlessly into the air. A moment later, Kira had run up and given the same person a hard kick to the head knocking him out. Both Bots were impressed with Kira's display and the stranger looked on at the boy with great interest. "Okay its over," the man called out, but it was not over just yet. The sounds of jets then roared through the temporary silence, and then, once they were in sight, they transformed to reveal three Decepticon drones.

"Hey what are you doing?! It's already over," the stranger shouted, causing Kira and Cagalli to look at him in surprise and wonder how he knew the Cons. His shouts fell on deaf audio receptors as they armed their blasters and prepared to fire into the crowd.

"That's it," Bulkhead shouted. "I can't just sit here anymore!" Before Hound could do anything to stop him, Bulkhead had raced up and transformed to slam his fist into one of the Cons.

"Ah well, like the old saying goes," Hound stated as he too transformed and ran up to hit one of the other Cons. "Wreckers don't call for backup."

"THEY CALL FOR CLEAN UP," the two bots shouted in unison. Bulkhead then equipped his wrecking ball while Hound pulled out an X18-Scrapmaker gun and started firing off a few rounds at the Cons while Bulkhead smashed the others. Once they had downed all the Decepticon drones, they holstered their respective weapons and turned to see the stranger talking with someone in a Z.A.F.T. uniform.

"Not to worry, I'm fine. Thanks to him and everyone else is safe thanks in no small part to those two," he reported as he turned to both Kira and the two Autobots while removing his hat and sunglasses to reveal his face.

"You're kidding me," Cagalli gasped. "You mean we were talking to Andrew Waltfeld, the Desert Tiger all this time?"

Kira gasped at that while Bulkhead and Hound both gained shocked expressions and the only thing either one had to say the matter was Bulkhead silently moaning, "Oh boy."

"Well my boy," Waltfeld said as he walked up to Kira. "You saved my life, and your two friends there saved both my life and the lives of everyone nearby from my…new business partners." Hound could not help but note the reluctance in which Waltfeld had used when mentioning the Decepticons. "How can I thank you?"

What no one noticed was that one member of Blue Cosmos had not joined the fray and recorded every moment that had happened involving the Cybertronians on camera before running off, knowing he had to make sure his leader saw this himself as soon as possible.

* * *

A short while later, at Waltfeld's insistence, the group had arrived at the Desert Tiger's home, which was surrounded by guards, the _Lesseps_, and even a few mobile suits. What Bulkhead and Hound could not help but note was the fact that none of the Decepticons were anywhere to be seen, leading them to assume that Starscream had his forces based elsewhere. Waltfeld then pulled his jeep to a stop at the steps and climbed out as he invited Kira and Cagalli inside.

"No that's alright," Kira quickly stated, trying to get out of whatever trap he thought he and Cagalli may have been walking into. "We really have to get going."

"That's silly," Waltfeld told him. "Not only did I interrupt your meal and have you save me, but she's got sauce all over her clothes. I couldn't allow you to go home like this, okay? It just wouldn't feel right."

Kira then paused to consider what the Z.A.F.T. commander had stated, and had to admit that it did seem like he had a point. Cagalli did have sauce all over her still, and it would be rude of him to refuse the help after Waltfeld had already brought them all this way. Then again he had to consider the fact that maybe he and Cagalli had been found out, after all how many humans had been known to be hanging around the Autobots since they had appeared on Earth aside from the _Archangel_'s crew and the Desert Dawn, and what were the chances of him thinking that it was just a coincidence that the Bots were there at the time? Seeing that the young man was still weighing his options, Waltfeld simply smiled as he gave a small shrug and moved to go inside himself. As he did, he turned towards Bulkhead and Hound, who had remained in vehicle mode even after driving up to the estate and stated, "I'd actually like the chance to talk to the two of you as well. I'm sure you can just follow my heat source to the room I'll be in so just pick a window over that way and you'll be able to be in on the conversation as well."

Seeing that they did not seem to have any other options, Kira and Cagalli climbed out of the jeep and up the stairs into the building while Bulkhead and Hound assumed their bipedal modes and walked around towards the direction that Waltfeld had indicated. As soon as Kira and Cagalli were inside they were greeted by a beautiful young woman with long black hair that had a couple of orange streaks in it, wearing a blue dress.

"Is this the girl you were talking about Andy," the woman asked.

"Yeah Aisha," Waltfeld replied. "Do what you can to clean her up. She managed to get chili, yogurt sauce, and even some tea all over her."

_Andy?_ Was the shared thought between the pair as the now identified Aisha approached them, wondering just who this woman was to Waltfeld. The woman then led Cagalli away to get her cleaned up and told Kira to wait with "Andy". Hearing Waltfeld call out to him, and seeing that there was no way he could get out without Cagalli, Kira grunted a bit before walking into the room that Waltfeld was in, seeing Bulkhead and Hound just outside looking in through a window, and Waltfeld…preparing some coffee?

"I have great confidence that the coffee I prepare is first rate," Waltfeld stated as he turned to Kira.

_What is with this guy and his opinions on food?_ The three all thought at this. "Come on have a seat. Make yourself at home," Waltfeld told Kira, who then moved to do just that. Just as he was about to sit down however, something caught Kira's eye.

It looked like a small rock with the fossilized remains of what appeared to be an animal of some kind that could most closely be described as some type of fish with wings. Though neither one of the Autobots knew what the significance of this rock was, Kira knew what it was all too well.

"Evidence zero one," Waltfeld stated as he walked up to Kira, with two cups of coffee in his hands. "You ever see the real McCoy?"

"No sir," Kira replied in all honesty.

"I have no idea why they call this thing a whale stone," Waltfeld then commented as he handed Kira one of the cups, which Kira graciously accepted. "Does it look like a whale to you?"

"I really can't say for certain."

"How about you fellas," Waltfeld then asked to the two Bots. "Do you guys think it's a whale?"

"I don't think we have anything like whales back on Cybertron," Bulkhead hesitantly replied.

"I have never heard of such creatures being on our home world before, so I don't think we are ones to judge on the matter," Hound added.

"Well no harm in askin," Waltfeld replied with a shrug as he then turned to look back at the stone from over Kira's shoulder. "If you ask me though, those look like wings. Whales don't normally come with wings do they now?"

"Uh…well no," Kira replied. "But it was brought back from a space mission as proof of the existence of extraterrestrial life so…"

"Well I think we've all seen plenty of new evidence to support that by now with our new metal friends out there wouldn't you say," Waltfeld stated indicated Bulkhead and Hound, both of whom gained smug looks as a way of bragging at that. "The point I'm trying to make is why's it the figure in this fossil assumed to be that of a whale?"

"So then what would be a better name for it," Kira asked Waltfeld, before taking a small sip of his coffee after Waltfeld had already done the same.

"Mmm…," Waltfeld replied in his savoring of his coffee. "I have to admit, nothing readily comes to mind. On to more pressing matters what's your assessment of this coffee? Or perhaps you haven't yet acquired such an appreciation for such an adult taste?"

While the two Wreckers outside were still trying to grasp why Kira's opinion of a human beverage would be considered a pressing matter, Kira simply chuckled in reply to that as he gave a small smile to the comment. "Well as amusing as that thing may be its also problematic," Waltfeld then commented as he sat down, Kira doing the same a moment later.

"Mind telling me how a little slab of rock is problematic," Hound asked.

"You don't agree," Waltfeld asked. "It was only because they found this thing that all this hope was suddenly opened up, or you might call it a possibility."

At the three questioning glances he received, Waltfeld continued by saying, "That human beings have the potential to go much further." He then paused as he scowled for a moment. "Course that also happens to be the reason this war got started."

Kira scowled at this as well, seeing as he knew all too well of that fact. "I don't see why some people are opposed to that idea of your kind having the potential to go further myself," Bulkhead then commented. When the two humans turned to look at him, he figured he might as well clarify what he meant. "Before the war on Cybertron, I worked in construction. Building things and breaking things was my life, but then when the call went out I was one of the first in line to follow Optimus's lead and fight for a future where all Cybertronians have the right to choose for themselves and live the way they want to."

"Well sounds like this Optimus is quite the guy," Waltfeld then commented. "I've heard a little about him from Z.A.F.T.'s new…friends…but I've yet to hear anything beyond the fact that he's leader of the Autobots and that he seems to inspire hope in those that share his ideals. Any chance you boys could tell me a little more about him?"

Bulkhead then turned to share a look with Hound, who nodded seeing that there was no harm in it. Both could tell that this man was genuinely curious about the kind of Bot that Optimus really was. Before either one could say anything though, there was a knock on the door, which then opened to reveal Aisha and a now clean, and very well dressed Cagalli on the other side. The blonde was now wearing a long green dress with some jewelry, and her hair tied up. It made both Kira and the Wreckers stop and stare in awe for a moment.

"You're a…a girl," Kira stated dumbly, repeating the words he had said to her on Heliopolis.

Cagalli had the same reaction to that as the last time. Getting irritated and shouting, "What'd you think?!"

"N-no," Kira quickly stated raising his hands in an attempt he meant no offense. "I was just saying this reminds me again that you're a girl."

"That announces the same thing jackass!"

At that point, neither the adults nor the Bots could hold their laughter in any longer. The interaction between the two was just so amusing to them that it was nearly unbearable. Though for Kira and Cagalli, it was slightly embarrassing. After recovering from this little scene, Kira sat back down with Cagalli taking a seat next to him. Waltfeld then gestured for the two Autobots to continue where they left off.

"To describe Optimus in few words would be nearly impossible," Hound began. "But if I had to I would say that he's, inspiring, brave, honorable, and a born leader. I'll never forget one time I truly saw how great Optimus really was."

"Ages ago back on Cybertron, when I was the only Wrecker out there I did a lot of work alone. I was something of a lone wolf but that didn't stop me. I took on the most dangerous assignments and always came back with good results. Every time I did, I always came back to receive some kind of award or ceremony with the crowd cheering, and it felt real good, at least until I found out there was another side to the cheering. Folks considered me to be a loose cannon, someone who'd abandon his own teammates without a second thought, the kind of Bot that you wouldn't want to be on a mission with."

"I didn't let it bother me for long, because I decided that I should keep working alone, and I wasn't responsible for anyone and no one was responsible for me. At least that's what I thought until one mission I got myself pinned down and fell into stasis under some rumble. I was out there all alone with no one knowing what had happened. No one except one. When I finally came to, I couldn't believe my optics. There standing guard over my fallen form and shooting out some covering fire was Optimus. I couldn't figure out how it was possible. How was Optimus even here or how did he know I was in trouble? It didn't make any sense until Optimus explained that he was actually trying to give me some cover until some Cons hit him from behind, but when he saw me go down he rushed right over to help."

"That day I learned that all those times when I thought I was alone, even if he wasn't actually there himself, Optimus was always there for me. Looking out for me like a true comrade. Like a true friend. I guess I just needed a mountain to fall me to make me realize that."

Kira, Cagalli, and Waltfeld could not help but stare in awe at Hound for what he had just told him. It seemed that the Autobot leader just kept getting more and more amazing the more they heard about him, and they had no doubt that it was any different for any of the other Autobots. "After that incident, I wanted to repay Optimus in any way I could by showing that there were other Bots out there willing to go the extra mile for their friends and comrades that others couldn't," Hound continued. "That's why I helped to form the Wreckers, and made Bulkhead here one of my first soldiers."

Waltfeld let out a low whistle. "Sounds like my kind of guy," he commented. "Personally, I'd wish I had a chance to meet Optimus Prime face to face someday if it were possible."

He then paused for a moment, allowing everyone to let what they just heard sink in before casting a glance in Cagalli's direction commenting, "That dress actually does look quite flattering on you. From the looks of it, it seems you're quire accustomed to dressing up like that."

"Say what you want," Cagalli replied rudely as she took a small sip of coffee from her own cup.

Waltfeld just gave a casual shrug. "The perfect little lady til you speak."

"Well it's just as hard for me to believe that you're the Desert Tiger," Cagalli then retorted. "Why spend your valuable time dressing people up? Is this another way for you to get your kicks Waltfeld?"

"Well Aisha was the one who selected that ensemble," Waltfeld replied before questioning, "What do you mean by 'getting my kicks'?"

"Taking a trip into the city while wearing some disguise, or having people evacuate their town before burning it. That's what I mean."

_Cagalli! Keep your mouth shut about that kind of thing._ Hound thought, but it was already too little too late. "You've got a lovely pair of eyes," Waltfeld stated. "Something very sincere about them."

"Don't toy with me!"

"Hey Cagalli," Kira and Bulkhead warned.

Waltfeld then gained a serious expression. "Are you another one of those people who would rather be dead?" After receiving no response from Cagalli he turned to Kira and asked, "What about you then? What do you think about all this? What do you think needs to be done in order for this war to end? Give me your opinion as a mobile suit pilot."

"Hey how would you know about that," Cagalli demanded.

"Well for one thing you pretty much announced it just then," Bulkhead groaned in response.

Waltfeld simply laughed. "Being too sincere can also be a liability." Waltfeld then moved to one end of the room while Kira pulled Cagalli behind him as they moved to the other side. Bulkhead and Hound also brought themselves onto full guard in case he was preparing to signal the Decepticons, but somehow they knew that Waltfeld was not going to.

"Unlike in sports the game of war has no set time limit," Waltfeld continued as he reached into a drawer. "And no points are awarded. So how do you determine the winners and the losers? At what point do we put an end to it?"

"At what point…," Kira repeated in shock, realizing that he had wondered the same thing himself many times deep down since he first piloted the Strike in combat, but only in reference to the battles he had fought in.

"When every single one of your enemies has been destroyed," Waltfeld then asked as he raised a gun towards Kira and Cagalli. "Perhaps then?"

Kira then started looking around for a way out of the situation, but it was not subtle enough to go unnoticed by Waltfeld. "I'd advise you not to try anything stupid," The Desert Tiger informed Kira. "Even if you have berserker capabilities you still wouldn't be able to force your way out of here without any degree of success. And the same can be said if you two fellas were to try and help. I'm sure you wouldn't want to attract any more attention from the Decepticons than you already have."

Kira and Cagalli both then gained a shocked expression for different reasons. Bulkhead and Hound could only stare in wonder as they contemplated what Waltfeld meant by that. "Every one of us here is a coordinator like you. There's no way you can overpower us all."

Now Cagalli was beyond surprised, as she had no idea until now that Kira was a coordinator. "But wait…," she began. "You…you mean you're a…" Cagalli found she could barely bring herself to finish the question due to the her shock.

"I saw you in battle on two separate occasions. Take your adjustments for contact pressure against the sand and the heat convection parameters, and I would say among us coordinators someone like you would be considered a first rate specimen. If rumors are circulating around that it's actually a natural who's the pilot of that mobile suit, I'm not one to believe it without question. On top of that consider the amazing job you did getting us out of that jam earlier. I have no idea what your reasons are for deciding to fight against your own people, but as long as you remain the pilot of that Earth Forces mobile suit you and I are both destined to be sworn enemies even if we are both Coordinators."

Kira then glared hard at the man holding him and Cagalli at gun point, which said man returned before finally giving a casual smile and lowering his gun. "It actually makes you wonder if there really is no other option than for one of us to be destroyed," Waltfeld finally finished.

Now Kira, Cagalli, and their two Autobot guardians were completely confused on what this man's intentions were. Waltfeld then put the gun back where he got it from as he hit a button on his pager while stating, "Well the fact is you saved my life today and this time we aren't meeting on the battle field."

A moment later Aisha opened the door and stood to the side to let them exit. "You have permission to leave," Waltfeld then stated. "I sure have enjoyed talking with you, although I can't tell whether or not it was beneficial."

"Is that really the only reason why you brought us all here," Hound asked.

"Well partially," Waltfeld stated as he turned to the two Autobots. "After seeing some of you guys in action already I was actually eager for a chance to meet at least one of you Autobots even for just a moment, and as I stated I sure have enjoyed talking to you guys as well. Though in terms of being beneficial, all I can say there is that it increased my desire to meet with your leader some time later on down the line."

Kira then placed a hand on Cagalli's shoulder and led her to the door while Bulkhead nudged Hound and nodded his head to the side saying that they should meet the two out front when they got there. Just before Kira and Cagalli left the room, Waltfeld left them with one final word saying, "I'll see you on the battlefield."

Kira and Cagalli looked back at Waltfeld one last time before leaving the compound. They then retrieved Cagalli's regular clothes, which she changed into in a nearby room while Kira waited outside, and then met Bulkhead and Hound outside. After climbing into the two Autobots' vehicle forms, they drove off hoping to leave as much of that behind as possible, but there was still something about all that which Kira could not dismiss from his mind.

* * *

Meanwhile back at the _Archangel_, Murrue had received word that Kira, Cagalli, Bulkhead, and Hound had missed the rendezvous time and once word had gotten around, everyone was instantly on edge. It did not help matters in Sai's case, as he was already on edge when it came to the topic of Kira. His mind kept circulating around the fact that Kira could do so many amazing things and had so much going for him, and now he even had Flay.

Feeling he could not take it all anymore, Sai decided to take a desperate measure to prove that Kira was not the only special person around, and climbed into the Strike in an attempt to pilot it himself. This quickly drew the attention of all the mechanics, Mu, Miriallia, Tolle, and even Flay as they all watched as Sai struggled to make the Strike move. When he heard that Sai was the one inside, Mu could not help but wonder aloud, "What would make him do that?"

Suddenly it seemed as though Sai could not handle it much longer, and the Strike began to fall. Miriallia let out a terrified scream along with a few others as the Strike collapsed onto all fours. There was a moment of silence before Sai let out a cry of anguish at his inability to compare to Kira, shedding a few tears inside the cockpit as he did. Knowing full well she was responsible for this, Flay simply turned and ran from the hanger, cross with what Sai had done. Though she shed a few tears for Sai, one thought crossed her mind in reference to the glasses wearing boy._Dummy._

* * *

Meanwhile, somewhere in an undisclosed location, a blonde haired man in a light blue suit was watching a video he had recently received from one of his followers. The video being the one that the member of Blue Cosmos had taken of Bulkhead and Hound fighting the Decepticon drones. He gave a small chuckle of amusement as he reached for the communication control that he had open to the contact. "You have done well to show me this my friend," he stated. "This truly opens up many possibilities for us when it comes to ending the war and those filthy Coordinators, as well as a possible future for our world as well."

"Thank you sir," the contact replied. "I await any further orders you send to me."

"For now I believe it may be best if your forces were to move underground and wait for an opportune moment to contact one of the two opposing sides among these large robotic beings."

"Yes sir Lord Azrael. For the preservation of our blue and pure world." With that Azrael cut the line and began to ponder just what he could accomplish if he were to gain access to the technology or even an ally among these large transforming titans.

* * *

_**Kira: I'll admit, that story that Hound told was not something I had expected.**_

_**AN: Well when I was writing this chapter I thought it'd be a good chance to show that there's more complexity and character behind each one of the Autobots while at the same time showing just how great Optimus is. This seemed like the best option.**_

_**Kira: Where'd you come up with that story anyways?**_

_**AN: Oh its actually based off the one that Leo Breaker told Snarl in that one episode of Transformers Cybertron. I wanted to have a story be told that would show why exactly Hound helped form the Wreckers and that was the first one that came to mind.**_

_**Kira: Oh okay, that makes sense.**_

_**AN: Now then on to the preview...**_

_**While they were once the best of friends, it seems that Athrun has come to realize he and Kira couldn't be further apart. After learning what happened to Sai, Kira starts acting differently which could have a drastic impact on his future with Flay, not that any of the bots are complaining. Meanwhile it seems that Dreadwing is beginning to wonder about some of the actions he has taken as he reviews what led to his quest of vengeance against the Autobots with Athrun. The Autobots, **_**Archangel**_** crew, and Desert Dawn are all gearing up for action, while Starscream returns to Earth with a pair of new additions to his team of Decepticons seeming extremely upset with something, and above the planet Z.A.F.T. begins plans for a new military operation alongside Megatron. Next time on Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Prime...**_**_Chapter 8: On a Calm Day_****_. _**_**Pave the way to the future Gundam, Optimus, and Bumblebee!**_

_**AN: Hey thanks for coming in for today's author's note Kira. Oh do me a favor though and make sure you keep that red haired witc-uh woman away from these things please.**_

_**Kira: You mean Flay? Why?**_

_**AN: Oh let's just say that I cannot guarantee her safety if she were to suddenly show up here for whatever reason.**_

_**Kira: Ooookaaay. *cough* Well thanks for having me.**_

_**AN: My pleasure. As for all you readers, please read and review! See you next time, and if you have a request as to who you want to appear in these Author's Notes, please say so in the reviews or via a private message, just make sure it's someone who has appeared in the story so far please.**_


	8. 8: On a Calm Day

_**AN: Hey I'm back! Sorry for the wait, but I had a few personal things come up and well this one wasn't the most exciting to write about so I had to spice it up as best I could. Now then before we do anything else, please welcome this chapter's special guest. You know him, you love him, because doesn't love to hate a good villian, the Decepticon Second in Command, all around wimp, and the Con who screams like a little girl...Starscream!**_

_**Starscream: Grrr, what kind of introduction is that, and where was the applause?!**_

_**AN: What the audience sound effects are broken, and besides I'm just reading the script, I don't write it.**_

_**Starscream: Yes you do! You're the author of this story!**_

_**AN: Ehehe, oh yeah, right.**_

_**Starscream: And I do NOT scream like a girl!**_

_**AN: Whatever you say Screamer. Oh snap, uh Starscream...Megatron's right behind you and boy does he look mad.**_

_**Starscream: WHAT?! [Screams his usual girly scream]**_

_**AN: HAHAHAHAHAHA I can't believe you fell for that.**_

_**Starscream: Why you insolent little-**_

_**AN: Yeah, yeah. Get angry, threat, yada yada, time to start the chapter. Could you please do the disclaimer.**_

_**Starscream: No I will not degrade myself by giving that statement.**_

_**AN: What statement?**_

_**Starscream: That whole lyokoMARVELanime does not own anything in the Gundam or Transformers franchises or anything else that is not an OC. that statement.**_

_**AN: Thanks for the disclaimer Starscream! On with the story.**_

_**Starscream:...Wait what?**_

* * *

**Chapter 8: On a Calm Day**

"Remind me again what we are doing Athrun Zala," Dreadwing asked from the air above Athrun as he followed the young man in his jet mode while Athrun drove along the road. Athrun had the day off that day and had decided to go out for a while, and, at both his father's and Megatron's insistence, Dreadwing was to accompany him as a kind of bodyguard or something.

"I told you Dreadwing," Athrun replied. "We're going to see Lacus because this is the first time in a long while that I have been back at the PLANTs and she and I have both had time off."

"I understand that she is your arranged sparkmate, but really are you both okay with being promised to each other like this?"

"Well I've never had a problem with it, and I have never heard Lacus say that she has so…"

Dreadwing just sighed at Athrun's response. "Your human customs completely elude me."

"Well you didn't have to come along you know," Athrun told the Decepticon sky warrior.

"I know, but it was Lord Megatron's wish that I come."

"No offense Dreadwing, but has anyone ever told you that sometimes it seems like you and Megatron have a relationship similar to that of an obedient dog and his owner?"

"Actually yes I believe so, but in Cybertronian terms, so no offense taken."

Athrun shook his head a bit at Dreadwing as he pulled up to the gate at Lacus's house, and had his identification confirmed by the security system before pulling up to the house itself. After parking his car, he was greeted and allowed inside by the Clyne family's butler after being told that Lacus was expecting him. Giving the butler his thanks, Athrun then walked in after seeing Dreadwing transform and land somewhere in the Clyne family's large backyard. As he began to wonder how Lacus would deal with the fact that Dreadwing would be joining them, the voice of the pink songstress herself brought him out of his musings as she exclaimed, "It's nice to see you again Athrun."

He then turned to see Lacus at the top of the stairs, with all her Haros bouncing around and calling out his name. "I apologize, I was running a little late," Athrun replied in his usual calm tone of voice.

"Oh I didn't notice," Lacus replied casually, indicating she really had not noticed.

Athrun recovered a moment from the Haros bouncing around happily to present Lacus with the flowers he brought her, which she eagerly accepted, and then had to ask, "I hope you don't mind me asking, but what's with these Haros?"

Lacus smiled at him as she finished taking in the flowers' sent. "It's just their way of welcoming our guests," she told him. She gestured for Athrun to follow her, with the Haros bouncing around them the whole way outside.

"But don't you think it gets to a point where they get to be a bit of a nuisance?"

"They're a little more excited than usual because they're quite fond of you, and after all it has been some time since you last paid a visit to the house."

Athrun cast a sad look to the side as he apologized once again, only to have Lacus giggle as she assured him it was alright. After asking one of her other robots to take Athrun's flowers and put them in some water, Lacus then finally saved Athrun from the attack of the Haros by getting them set up to play a small game. The little spherical robots eagerly raced off to play as soon as they were given the okay, and Athrun let out a small sigh of relief. Lacus then looked off to the side and noticed Dreadwing nearby overlooking the small body of water in what appeared to be contemplation.

"I hope you don't mind, but it was at both Megatron and my father's insistence that Dreadwing come along," Athrun explained.

"Oh its quite alright," Lacus replied, having had gotten to know Dreadwing a little bit while he was visiting on the PLANTs for business involved with the Z.A.F.T./Decepticon alliance. She then waved over as she called out, "Hello Mr. Dreadwing, its very nice to see you again."

Dreadwing cast a look over in their direction and gave a small nod in return. The two coordinators then engaged in small conversation involving a few topics such as the memorial service, and the fact that more people seemed to be joining the war to become volunteer soldiers, including some of Lacus's friends. As he listened on to this, Dreadwing could not help but feel a small amount of pity for the two humans and how this war was affecting them, especially when he remembered what Athrun had told him about how he lost his mother at Junius Seven.

"By the way, I wonder how Mister Yamato's been doing lately," Lacus then stated excitedly. This caused Athrun to turn to look at Lacus in surprise as the subject of Kira had been brought up so suddenly and unexpectedly. "Have you had a chance to see him since then," Lacus then pressed on.

"I believe he is somewhere on Earth," Athrun said sadly as he turned away. "I expect he's doing just fine." The topic of Kira was one that Athrun still had a hard time discussing even with those who actually knew that were closest to him like Lacus. Dreadwing knew all about it, and could not help but wonder what would have happened had either he or his late brother ended up on opposite sides to one and other were he still alive.

"And the two of you have been friends for a long time, since you were little kids," Lacus continued to press.

"Yes that's right. Since we were about four or five years old." Athrun then glanced down at the blue birds on the table that Lacus was feeding crumbs to as he continued on. "We were living on the moon during those years but then it all changed when there were signs that the war might break out, so I decided to obey my father's orders and go ahead to the PLANTs. I was under the impression that he would be joining us later."

They both paused for a moment, letting a small silence carry between the two while the wind gently blew through the trees and against the large, blue Decepticon, and the birds sang. Lacus then gave a small smile as she then continued saying, "I had a discussion with him about Haro, and then he told me that it sounded like you really hadn't changed one bit. It seemed to put him in a much more cheerful mood."

Athrun looked up in surprise at that, hearing that Kira really believed that he had not changed one bit since their days together on the moon. He was glad to hear that his old friend still remembered those old days and that he thought that simply from a small discussion about Haro.

"Birdie," Lacus then contemplated softly. "That was something else you made, and it was meant especially for him right? I saw him taking very good care of it."

"What Birdie," Athrun exclaimed. "Kira still has it?"

Lacus looked at Athrun in surprise then gave a small smile as she continued saying, "Yes, I actually saw him many times with it on his shoulder."

"Huh. Is that so," Athrun then whispered in wonder, amazed that his old friend still had the old green and yellow bird shaped robot that he had given to Kira just before they had gone their separate ways all those years ago.

Lacus then looked out to the beautiful view before them as she softly stated, "I'm quite fond of him." That startled Athrun a bit as he realized that maybe Dreadwing had a small point in bringing up the topic of their arranged marriage on the way here.

"You should be careful what you say Miss Clyne. You never know who could be listening and take that the wrong way," said Decepticon stated as he revealed himself to have moved closer to them.

Lacus looked up at the gold faceplate of the Decepticon warrior as she gave a small smile in wonder. Of all the Decepticons she had met, Dreadwing had seemed to be the only one who actually treated her with some decency. Not to say that the others had not done so as well, it was more that they did so simply because they knew her father was Supreme Chairman of the PLANTs and only did so out of necessity, while Dreadwing on the other hand did so because he felt it would be improper to do otherwise. Still, there was one thing that she did not understand about him, which she then decided to ask. "Mr. Dreadwing," she called out, getting his attention. "If you don't mind my asking, why is it that you seem to hate the Autobots so much?"

Athrun then looked up in wonder at that as well since he too had been wondering about that himself. After giving the two a small glance, Dreadwing so no harm in telling them his tale. "The truth is I do not hate the Autobots. If anything I respect them, for the most part. I simply wish to end their existence because my honor demands it. Many eons ago, my brother, Skyquake, was given a mission by Lord Megatron that involved scouting out possible Energon sources that may have remained on Cybertron. The mission was meant to be simple, but it eventually lead him into conflict with the Autobots, namely Optimus Prime and one of his most trusted warriors and closest friends since even before the war, Jazz."

"Though this was before Optimus had become the Last Prime, he was still a formidable warrior and a well respected commander among his forces, and Skyquake more than welcomed the chance for an opportunity to face off with such a well renowned Autobot soldier. They said that the battle was fierce and that Skyquake had Optimus and Jazz cornered many times, going so far as to eliminate all the Autobot drones that were there with them until they were the only two left, but in the end he was defeated, fallen at the hands of the two Autobot elites. I was told that the soon to be Autobot First Lieutenant, Jazz was the one to have dealt the final blow, and did so from atop Skyquake's alt mode, but none of that mattered to me, as that day I had lost my brother."

"Ever since, I have sworn to eliminate as many Autobots as I could in order to avenge my brother and his honor, while serving Lord Megatron valiantly in his place. While I do respect Optimus Prime for all he had accomplished in the past, I would be lying if I were to say that I respect him enough to spare him from my wrath in my quest for vengeance."

Both Athrun and Lacus looked at Dreadwing in shock, sadness, and sympathy. They could not believe that Dreadwing's brother had died in the line of duty, and felt great sorrow for him. Lacus even made a small note to pray for Skyquake at a future memorial service for Dreadwing's sake. Athrun truly sympathized with Dreadwing's loss, having lost family himself due to war, and truly wished that he could do more for the Decepticon.

Still Lacus had to ask, "But is seeking vengeance really the only way to honor your brother? Or is that what you believe simply because you were told so by Megatron and other Decepticons?"

Now it was Dreadwing's turn to look on in shock, as something that the pink princess of the PLANTs said did seem to hold some truth to it. Being a Decepticon for nearly his entire existence, Dreadwing had long since believed in the beliefs and ambitions that Megatron's forces had fought for in their war with the Autobots. Having someone ask him if vengeance for his brother was truly what he wanted for the first time in his life, even for the sake of Skyquake's honor, was enough of a shock to him to cause him to wonder whether or not everything that his lord and master had spoke of to him and his brethren was really the only way things could be for them.

* * *

In a small dark conference room, Athrun's father, Patrick Zala, was actually watching the footage of the G-Weapons in combat once again, glaring at them as he kept thinking about what he considered to be Orb's betrayal and further proof of the Naturals' terror and oppression of Coordinators. His latest public announcement had furthered public opinion in his favor in terms of the view that after all that had happened, any attempts at talks for peace and ending the war would be pointless, and the only way it would win would be in a decisive victory for Z.A.F.T. and the PLANTs. As he often said, there is no meaning in having a war unless one can end it in victory.

"Must you continue repeating the same points over and over," a voice said from behind him. Zala turned to see Siegel Clyne had entered the room and once again was voicing his disapproval at planning more operations that he felt would further the conflict.

"All I want to do is provide accurate information," Zala calmly answered.

"Or information you've carefully selected to make your point. The case you've made with Operation: Spitbreak should guarantee its approval today. Public opinion favors you so there's no stopping this from going ahead."

"We're taking steps in accordance with the general consensus, that's all Siegel. Please try to keep that in mind when speaking of this."

"But by allowing the war to spread you risk spreading more hatred. How far do you people plan to take this? Or have you forgotten what a war like this has already done to the home world of the Decepticons?"

"I remember full well what Lord Megatron told us had happened to planet Cybertron," Zala assured the PLANT Supreme Chairman in a soft, yet dangerous tone. "And that is why with his and the Decepticons' help we must work on effective measures to end both wars quickly so that doesn't happen to us as well. There is no meaning in having a war unless one can end it in victory."

_"__Wise words indeed Vice Chairman Zala,"_ Megatron's voice complimented over a radio in the room. A moment later, the video feed of the G-Weapons was replaced with the face of the Decepticon war lord. _"And rest assured, my Decepticons and I are doing everything in our power to assure both your victory and ours as well."_

Siegel gave both the man and the Decepticon a small glare to show he thought otherwise of what the two were thinking. "You forget Siegel that we Coordinators are very different to the point where we should view ourselves as a new species. There is no reason for us to coexist with Naturals," Zala then stated.

_"__As I have stated many times Chairman,"_ Megatron interjected. _"The ideas you have about this conflict are as foolish and naïve as those of Optimus Prime and his Autobots. It is only through the combined efforts of Z.A.F.T. and the Decepticons that we can assure a better future for both our worlds and the rest of the universe."_

"How can either of you call Coordinators a new species when there are signs we are nearing the end of our road," Siegel shouted. "Even with our push towards regulated marriages, birth rates among third generation Coordinators are declining!"

_"__No road is without its obstacles Chairman Clyne I assure you,"_ Megatron stated. _"But it matters not what obstacles you face if you have the strength to overcome it."_

"Lord Megatron is correct Siegel," Zala agreed. "We have always been able to overcome every obstacle we encountered in the past and we will continue to do so, if we put our minds to it."

Siegel slammed his hands onto the table in anger at that. "Patrick you must realize that lives are born not manufactured!"

_"__I feel as though I should take offense to that in some way Chairman,"_ Megatron snarled.

"Siegel your ideals are old and outdated. People will always work to progress towards a new tomorrow," Zala stated.

"But does that lead to happiness," Siegel asked.

Before either could answer him, Patrick was asked to come to the assembly hall. He then led Siegel out of the room while reminding him that the decision was based off of the general consensus, and implying that they could not go back on their evolutionary change and return to being Naturals. As he watched the two through the video feed, Megatron could not help a small, dark chuckle that came on at the sight of the two lowly humans debating whether or not they had truly evolved. If he were to be honest, the Decepticon war lord found it quite pathetic.

* * *

Later that same day, around sunset, Athrun was driving home after promising Lacus to try and come visit again the next time he had time off with Dreadwing following from the sky once more. The Decepticon in question had received word from Megatron that Operation: Spitbreak would happen and that the Decepticon forces would more than likely be taking part in it along with Z.A.F.T. on the suspicion that Autobot interference was likely.

As Athrun drove home, he could not help but remember why he joined .T. along with Dreadwing's story about why he had sworn vengeance on the Autobots. The two of them both wished to put a stop to an enemy force because they had lost loved ones, Athrun his mother and Dreadwing his brother, but now, with what he had heard from Lacus about his old friend, Athrun was wondering if it was really possible for he and Kira to once again be on the same side.

Dreadwing on the other hand was also wondering if perhaps the songstress had a point in asking if vengeance for his death was truly what Skyquake would have wanted. True he missed his brother greatly, and the loss of it hurt him much, but was that really reason enough for him to become a killer? That was the question that plagued Dreadwing's mind for the first time in many cycles.

"What do you think," Athrun then asked, bringing the two out of their respective stupors.

"What are you referring to Athrun Zala," Dreadwing asked.

"Is it really possible?"

Dreadwing paused to consider once he understood what Athrun was asking about. "I cannot say for certain Athrun. Perhaps neither of us will ever know, but the answer may present itself in due time."

Athrun nodded at that, and the two continued on their return journeys to their respective homes in silence.

* * *

That night, in the hangar that the Decepticons often used to enter the capital of the PLANTs, Megatron was meeting with Patrick Zala and Rau Le Creuset, discussing progress of the operation Megatron had in motion and the true Operation: Spitbreak.

"I'm counting on you both with the real Operation: Spitbreak Le Creuset and Megatron," Zala stated.

"But of course you have nothing to worry about Vice Chairman Zala," Megatron assured, his dark purple optics seeming to flare with eager anticipation for this. "And rest assured, the operative I have chosen for this understands his role with our plans quite clearly."

"As long as you are certain he can succeed I doubt we have much to worry about Lord Megatron," Le Creuset commented with a unnoticeably devious smile. "And Vice Chairman Zala, there is no doubt in my mind that you will be selected to succeed Clyne in the upcoming election. Well then I'd best get started on the preparations."

Zala nodded to the masked man and the Decepticon warlord, knowing that things were about to sway greatly in Z.A.F.T.'s favor should both endeavors prove successful.

* * *

That same day, the _Archangel_, Desert Dawn, and the Autobots were making final preparations for the upcoming battle they were expecting to have against the _Lesseps_ in a few days time. While Miriallia and Tolle oversaw the loading of supplies onto the _Archangel_, and Hound was checking over the Autobots' chosen weapons for their part in the battle, the leaders of the three groups were meeting to discuss the final set up for the battle plan.

"This area here is full of caves from abandoned mines," Sahib indicated on the map that lay on the table in front of him. On the other side of the table stood Murrue Ramius, Mu La Flaga, and Natarle Badgiruel, while Optimus was kneeled down near the entrance so he could see better while giving his input. "And this spot has land mines that we set, so if we were going to use any place for a battle field it would be here. The enemy is probably thinking the same thing of course, but it would be a waste not to put our land mines to some good use."

"And are you sure you're okay with that," Mu asked. "Putting us and Prime's team aside, if you consider how well your equipped you can expect heavy casualties."

"While I have given my word that the Autobots will do everything in our power to protect human kind, it does not mean we are able to protect you from everything completely," Optimus then pointed out. "I believe that the human saying most appropriate to what I am stating is that, we are only human, in a manner of speaking."

Sahib looked at the map sadly as he let that information absorb in. "We could do as the Tiger says. Give up and work for those guys, it's a very tempting offer since we most certainly would be offered a peaceful life…much like in Banadia. In fact a number of the women have asked us to consider it; however, a ruler's hand can be unpredictable, and brutal. I believe our people have suffered for centuries because of this."

Optimus had to concede that point to Sahib, considering what he knew would result from Megatron being victorious in the Cybertronians' war. "We will not rule, and we will not be ruled. That is all we wish for," Sahib continued. "If we can reclaim the mining area that the Tiger took over in the east, that wish should come true."

The Desert Dawn leader let out a sigh as he straightened up from standing over the table. "Of course we'll be taking advantage of each of your powers to so that would make it even. That should set both your minds at ease."

Mu gave an understanding smile at that as he stated that he was with them. Murrue then looked to Sahib and stated, "Then its settled. We will be glad to accept your cooperation with us in this plan to get past the _Lesseps_."

"My Autobots and I would be honored to fight alongside each of you as well in this endeavor, so long as you remember that our code will only allow us to engage the Decepticon forces unless the Z.A.F.T. forces strike at us first," Optimus then stated. After getting an affirmative nod from Sahib, the commanding officers of the _Archangel_ and her aircraft and mobile armor pilot departed for their ship to make sure it was ready for the upcoming battle, with the Last Prime following in his vehicle mode a moment later to head for where his Autobots were gathering for their own mission briefing.

* * *

During that time, Cagalli had just finished up a run in an aircraft battle simulator with Miriallia, Tolle, Kuzzy, and Ensign Neumann watching, impressing all of them. Neumann went so far as to ask if the blonde had actually flown an aircraft somewhere before, to which Cagalli just chuckled. After climbing out of the simulator, which Tolle then quickly climbed into for a shot himself, Cagalli made her way over to one of the two Sky Grasper fighter planes and stared at it in concealed in excitement.

"You're not ready for the real thing," one of the engineers shouted as he moved to stand between her and the blue and white aircraft.

"Yeah I think I know that," Cagalli replied, moving to leave, only to find herself stopped by a certain blue Autobot femme.

"If you ask me, I think that's a load of scrap," Arcee stated bluntly.

"Oh really," Cagalli asked in surprise.

"Hey if you want to take one of those jets for a spin just to see if you can handle it, I say why not? After all, from what I've seen the _Archangel_ needs as many pilots as it can get right now."

Cagalli looked from Arcee to the Sky Grasper, considering what the female Autobot had told her. Cagalli remembered Optimus saying that Arcee is one of the best warriors in the Autobots, and with that in mind Cagalli could not help but think to herself that if someone Optimus considered to be a strong warrior was saying she could probably do it then maybe it was worth a shot. She then turned back to Arcee and asked, "Even if I wanted to, how would we see if I really was ready to fly one of those things into battle?"

Arcee smirked as she shifted her left hand into its blaster mode. "Oh I think we'll be able to think of something, and I'm sure Hound or some of the other Bots wouldn't mind lending a hand."

Cagalli smirked in excitement to that and then quickly asked, "Well then what are we waiting for?"

As it turned out though, Hound had to decline saying he still had to check over some of the other weapons, but the two did receive additional help, surprisingly, from Elita One. Of course, they did not intend to do anything without the captain's approval, and once they had that, Cagalli found herself seated in the cockpit of one of the Sky Graspers.

_"__Don't get nervous Cagalli,"_ Arcee's voice said over the radio. _"Try to keep in mind this just practice, but all the same, make sure you take it as seriously as you would the real thing okay?"_

"Right whatever you say sister," Cagalli replied. When Elita heard that, she could not help but let out a chuckle at Arcee's put off expression at being called sister. She knew it had been a long time since anyone had called Arcee anything close to that, and was glad that someone had done so now.

After the two Autobots took a moment to check to make sure their weapons were currently loaded with blanks, they gave the ship the all clear signal to start, and Cagalli then rocketed down the_Archangel_'s catapult and blasted into the sky. Almost immediately, Arcee opened fire on the jet, but Cagalli swerved the plane to the side to avoid it by the skin of her teeth. After dodging a few more shots from both Arcee and Elita, each changing their positions as they fired to make it as much like a real battle as possible, Cagalli decided it was her turn to start shooting and returned fire with the Sky Grasper's guns.

Though Arcee and Elita both swiftly dodged many of the young amber-eyed woman's shots, they still received at least a few hits from her. Needless to say, from that fact and the sight of how easily she handled the jet impressed both of the female members of Team Prime, along with Murrue and Natarle who were watching from the bridge's monitor, and the small crowd that had gathered to watch which was composed of Bumblebee, Bulkhead, Miriallia, Tolle, and even some of the Desert Dawn.

Once they had finished their little mock battle, Cagalli carefully but quickly landed the aircraft back in the _Archangel_'s hangar and dismounted, being greeted a moment later by the sounds of applause from the gathered crowd. At the sight of this and the sounds of clapping from everyone there, Cagalli found herself, surprisingly, a bit embarrassed. She then looked and saw that Arcee, Elita, Murrue, and even Natarle were all clapping as well.

"I must admit, that was quite an excellent performance Miss Cagalli," Murrue commented as the applause began to die down.

"I was skeptical at first about letting a civilian try to pilot a Sky Grasper in a mock battle against two well trained Autobot soldiers, but I will admit that was impressive," Natarle then added, allowing a small smile to grace her face.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were actually one of the Cybertronian flyers that I've seen out in the field over the course of our war," Elita commented.

Arcee then smiled proudly at Cagalli and winked as she boasted, "I told you that you were ready for that."

Cagalli then smiled happily and mentally thanked Arcee a million times over for that chance and for the confidence she seemed to have in her. Then noticed that Murrue had walked up and held her hand out to her. "As I'm sure you know the _Archangel_ is short on pilots, and given what I just saw I would like to know if you would consider becoming an official pilot for one of the Sky Graspers," the captain requested. At Cagalli's shocked silence, Murrue continued by stating, "You don't have to do so permanently or even if you don't want to, but if you want to at least consider doing so until we've reached the ocean we'd be more than happy to have you."

Cagalli continued to stare at the captain for a moment, then looked to the Sky Grasper she had just flown, then to Arcee who was smiling at her and gesturing to go on and do it, before finally looking back at Murrue and accepting the handshake. "Alright I'll do it."

A new round of cheers and applause broke out at that, and both Cagalli and Arcee felt excited at the fact that the young blonde would be fighting with the crew of the _Archangel_ in the upcoming battle. Elita looked on at the two and smiled as she thought, _Arcee you really are starting to open up more after all these years. I know it hasn't been easy, especially with the loss of Cliffjumper and her, but I'm glad that you're at least opening up to someone other than me and Bumblebee. Though I must admit, given your similar personalities, I'm surprised this didn't happen sooner._

* * *

Not everyone on the _Archangel_ was enjoying themselves though. Kira had earlier gone with Kuzzy to deliver Sai his lunch for that day after hearing about what had happened during his previous absence. Since he had nearly damaged the Strike with his actions, Sai had to spend a week locked up in one of the closest as a consequence. Kira stood off to the side when Kuzzey opened the door, and even though he heard Sai say he was alright and would manage, he could not help but feel responsible for what had happened to his friend. As he thought about how he and Sai could start to patch things up, he noticed Flay watching from around the corner before she scurried off after realizing she had been caught.

When he tried to confront her about it, she just called Sai a fool that could never compare to Kira, which only made him more upset. When Flay tried to start a make out session with him though, Kira felt he had enough of the girl dodging the subject at hand and stormed out of the room. This was a few hours ago and some where during that time he had wandered into the hangar and ended up staring up at the Strike.

As he looked on at the powered down, grey mobile suit, he grabbed his head and growled in frustration as he thought again about what had happened lately. First he found himself on the opposite side of a battlefield than his friend Athrun Zala, who he seemed to be drifting further apart from everyday, and now his friend Sai was jealous of him because of a few things that he could do that Sai could not. As far as he knew, Sai may very well hate him now, but Athrun on the other hand he was not so sure about. He knew that he and Athrun had promised that the next time they met in battle they would have no choice but to show one another no mercy, but he could tell from the look in Athrun's eyes that day that the young bluenette did not want it anymore than he did.

As he let these thought spin around his mind, Kira did not notice the sound of large, metal footsteps approaching him until a familiar whirring sound caught his attention. Lowering his hand from his forehead and turning around, Kira looked to see the concerned face of Bumblebee looking down at him asking if something was wrong. "It's nothing Bumblebee really," Kira tried to reassure the scout, although he did not even sound all that convincing even to himself.

Bumblebee continued to stare at Kira for a moment before standing up and stating, **_"Come with me for a minute Kira, and bring your mobile suit with you."_** At the questioning glance Kira gave him Bumblebee continued on saying, **_"The captain has already given approval for you bringing the Strike out for a bit, and Optimus wants to talk with you about something. It may very well be important."_**

Knowing that Bumblebee was right about the fact that Optimus may have something important to say to him if he wanted to talk with him, Kira nodded and went to get his pilot suit. After suiting up and launching in the Strike, Kira followed Bumblebee to where Optimus was. As they approached him, Kira saw Optimus was looking at something that was clearly very big and heard Optimus say over his communicator, "Excellent work Autobots. I believe that we shall be ready for its launch by the time we need to head out for the operation."

Optimus then turned off his communicator and turned to Bumblebee and Kira. "Thank you Bumblebee," Optimus said before turning to Kira who had climbed out of his seat to stand in the entrance of the Strike's cockpit. "Kira Yamato, I am sorry for the lack of time we have had in each other's company as of late."

"It's no problem Optimus," Kira reassured. "Bumblebee said you wanted to talk to me about something?"

Optimus nodded as he sat down on a nearby rock so that he was close to being at eye level with Kira. "Bumblebee had told me much about you and the struggles you have dealt with thus far since you first piloted that mobile suit which you currently stand in, and I must admit that I can see why he feels a need to compare you and I. As you are well aware, there was once a time when Megatron and I were not enemies, but that all changed when the war for Cybertron began; however, in the case of you and your friend, Athrun Zala as I believe his name was, I do not think it is too late to the point where it is the same."

Kira looked at Optimus in surprise. "You clearly still value your friendship greatly with Athrun, and I believe that from what I heard of Bumblebee's encounter of watching the two of you together, that Athrun Zala may feel the same way as you do. As for your friend Sai, I would not let it worry you too much. There is always some small amount of jealousy among even the best of friends, but I truly believe that whatever tension there currently is between the two of you shall pass eventually given time."

Kira smiled at that, glad that Optimus was so optimistic about how things were between him and his friends and made sure Optimus knew that he appreciated that before letting the last Prime continue. "Although if I were you, I would find it best to be cautious of the young woman you are currently in a relationship with. Bumblebee and I both suspect that she is not what she is leading you to believe."

"Are you sure about that," Kira asked, shocked that Optimus would say something like that about Flay, though deep down he could not deny that Flay was being somewhat cruel when she was talking about Sai earlier and seemed only interested in just being close to Kira.

Optimus seemed to quickly look around a bit before leaning closer to Kira and whispering, "Bumblebee is often a very trusting Autobot that can befriend many individuals quite quickly and easily, so it is rare to find him considering anyone in even the faintest of a bad light. I find it best to take him for his word and deal with things appropriately in those instances."

Kira chuckled a bit at that, finding it a little funny for some reason, and had to admit that Optimus was right. Bumblebee did seem to get along very well with everyone but Flay for some strange reason. Deciding that he should follow Optimus's advice, he then looked up and asked, "Is there something else you wanted to speak with me about, because I get the feeling that you didn't ask me to come with the Strike if that was it."

Optimus smiled at the young coordinator and stood up. He then lead both Kira and Bumblebee outside, the former having followed in the Strike. Optimus then turned around and, knowing that he and Kira could communicate with one and other over his radio, told the young pilot, "I wish to help train you in combat so that you may be ready for the future battles you will encounter."

Kira was truly surprised at that and all but shouted, "But I keep telling everyone I'm not a soldier! I never wanted to become a mobile suit pilot, and most importantly I never wanted to kill anyone ever!"

"Then do not fight to kill," Optimus calmly answered. That caught Kira off guard as he looked at Optimus, which prompted the Autobot leader to continue. "If you can refine your skills as a warrior, then when you enter battle you will be able to disable your opponents without killing them. You are aware that this is possible correct?"

Kira nodded and then remembered that Optimus could not see him at the moment. "Yes, but I'm not good enough to do that."

Optimus smiled softly and chuckled a moment at that. "Hound and Bulkhead both led me to believe otherwise when they had told me of what you did in Banadia the other day."

"But that was just a reflex reaction. I can't do that in a mobile suit!"

"Which I intend to help you to change with Bumblebee's help of course, if you will allow us." As soon as Optimus said that, Kira looked down at his lap as he thought it over. If he was trained by Optimus and Bumblebee he could become better and be able to protect the ship and friends on board more effectively. Not only that but if Optimus and Bumblebee could somehow teach him how to defeat an opponent without taking their lives then he really had no reason to say no to that as it would mean that there was little chance of him ever killing someone again.

Finally deciding on his answer, Kira looked up and grasped the controls of the Strike as he called out, "Alright, I accept, but before we start I have to ask you something. What exactly is a berserker?"

"If I remember what I have read of human terminology, history, and stories, it is a mythological warrior who becomes crazed with anger and rage when in battle. While they were normally gentle and well behaved beings, when a berserker went into battle they would become entirely different beings."

Kira gasped in shock at that, as he thought back to some of his own battles in which he felt a sudden change in himself that resulted in him performing incredible feats on the battlefield that he felt he was normally not capable of. Bumblebee noticed that something seemed to change about Kira's composure, despite not being able to see him, and had to ask, **_"Kira are you alright? Something wrong?"_**

"Uh…no Bumblebee its nothing," Kira said shaking his mind free of those thoughts. He then activated the Strike's Phase Shift armor and stated he was ready to start. At that, both Autobot leader and scout assumed ready positions, and thus a moment later, Kira's training under the two Autobots began.

* * *

Meanwhile, at the same time as Kira's training had begun, a certain silver jet arrived a short ways away from Banadia, where the _Lesseps _currently was, and quickly changed into Starscream. Waltfeld was there to see the sky commander as he landed on his pedes and then growled in annoyance at something.

"I take it your meeting with the big boss didn't go the way you were hoping it would," Waltfeld remarked casually.

Starscream scoffed in response. "That old fool Megatron thought that the actions I had taken were worth punishing in person, and then felt it necessary to send, as I quote, 'necessary precautions' for our upcoming battle."

Waltfeld smiled. "So I take it that means we should expect our supplies soon?"

"Yes along with a pair of Z.A.F.T. pilots that are from what you know as the Le Creuset team. Honestly though, I do not know what Megatron is thinking sending those two along with me."

"Oh quite your complaining brother. I'm not enjoying your sniveling company anymore than you are," a feminine voice then spoke up. Waltfeld then looked up to see a light purple, indigo highlighted jet fly down and transform to look surprisingly a lot like Starscream, much like Thundercracker and Skywarp, except for one major difference. This one was a female.

"Commander Andrew Waltfeld, it is my…pleasure to introduce the final member of the Seeker family, and its sole female member, my sister Slipstream," Starscream choked out.

"Well now this is a surprise," Waltfeld commented. "I was actually beginning to wonder how long it would be before I met a female Decepticon."

"Glad I could help you to deal with that human," Slipstream retorted with heavy sarcasm.

"Oh come now Slipstream, be glad you did not have to endure any harm to your finish as you made your way here unlike some of us," another voice piped up. A moment later, a large bright red robot with red eyes on a silver face approached them.

"Ah Knockout, how good of you to grace us with your presence," Starscream stated.

"Well I do try to please," Knockout replied casually. "Of course I would have been here sooner, but I did find an interesting race to take part in."

"Ah yes. You're one of those types of Decepticons," Starscream moaned.

"Pardon?"

"I will never truly understand how any self respecting Decepticon could ever select a land based alt mode for himself."

"Well it certainly seems to do wonders for myself and my old partner Breakdown."

"Well you certainly seem quite laid back compared to some of your fellow soldiers," Waltfeld interjected. "And you would be?"

"Oh my apologies sir," Knockout answered. "I am Knockout, the one that many Autobots call the Decepticon Doctor of Doom."

"I take it that means you're the medical officer of the Decepticons?"

"You would assume correctly. Just do me a favor and tell me if there is some way I can keep all this desert sand from mucking up my finish."

Waltfeld chuckled at this, and then thought over what had just happened recently. He would be getting his supplies along with a pair of Le Creuset's pilots, and now it seemed that the Decepticons had the Autobots outnumbered in terms of elite soldiers as well as overall numbers, at least in the sense of the ones that were gathered here that he had seen so far. One thing was certain; the next confrontation would be very exciting indeed.

* * *

**_AN: Yes I know I had Optimus tell Kira what a berserker was instead of Mu and it was ahead of time, but I felt that it would be better this way. Also, before anyone starts pointing out errors in judgement on Waltfeld's math, I feel I must remind you, that Waltfeld has only seen a total of five Autobots counting Cliffjumper, who is now dead. He has not yet seen Arcee or Elita One yet._**

**_Starscream: What I want to know is why you included Slipstream in this story, I thought you were not that big a fan of Transformers Animated._**

**_AN: I'm not, but that doesn't mean I don't think it has some good points. Plus lets face it there really aren't that many female Decepticons I mean really, how many female Decepticons do you know of? And in a good majority of Transformers series, if there are female Transformers, they're usually all Autobots._**

**_Starscream: Hm. You have a point there. Does this mean that we should expect other female Decepticons to show up in this story?_**

**_AN: You mean aside from the only one to actually appear in Transformers Prime...eh I'm still thinking about it. So on with the preview..._**

**_The next battle between the _****Archangel ****_and the Desert Tiger begins, as the Autobots fight alongside Kira and the others, and wage their battle to destroy the evil forces of the Decepticons (heh see what I did there?) that Starscream now leads against them. As she flies off into battle, Cagalli is reminded of a fallen friend and comrade, and is determined to fight just as fiercely. The Autobots prove they are more than ready, as they charge into battle with an addition of a long awaited project of Elita One's. The conflict will lead to many outcomes, such as the now inevitable confrontation between Andrew Waltfeld, and Kira and Optimus Prime. And when things seem to reach their bleakest, one warrior shows he will not be returning with the rest of his soon to be former allies. Next time on Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Prime…_****Chapter 9: One Storm's End**_**. **_**_Attack when ready Autobots and Gundam!_**

**_AN: Oh and Starscream, Megatron's here._**

**_Starscream: [chuckles] Oh like I'm going to fall for that one again._**

**_Megatron: [Storms on set, really ticked] STARSCREAM! WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING HERE?!_**

**_Starscream: DAH! L-lord Megatron. I-I can explain sir..._**

**_AN: We'll let those two work things out. See ya next time, and remember to read and review please! Oh and be sure to check out my first story challenge posted in my profile and my other stories when you get the chance._**


	9. 9: One Storm's End

_**AN: Sorry for the long wait. You know Halloween week and all, and I wanted to make sure I got this chapter done right, or at least as right as possible. Anyways, please welcome this chapter's special Author's Note guests, its a double commander party, Mu La Flaga and Andrew Waltfeld.**_

_**[audience applause]**_

_**La Flaga: Hey everyone great to be here.**_

_**Waltfeld: Yeah and even better to be in a room with you and not having to start shooting at each other.**_

_**La Flaga: I hear that. So how about we answer a few review lyokoMARVELanime?**_

_**AN: Gladly.**_

_**La Flaga: Alright first off is the question posed on the topic of the Dinobots by skydragonknight57.**_

_**AN: Ah yes glad that was brought up. I will go ahead and say right now that yes the Dinobots will appear in this continuity but they will not be appearing in this story. Sorry, but they will definitely appear in its sequel. I mean honestly what do you think works better, Grimlock scaring the crap out of Azrael or Grimlock tearing Shinn apart in scrap?**_

_**Waltfled: I actually kinda like the idea of both to be honest. Next is the question from OneWingedGoddess on whether or not we could see a trailer for a crossover between Transformers and Char's Counterattack.**_

_**AN: Right well I can honestly say that one might not be any time soon. Honestly if I'm going to do a crossover with Transformers and the Universal Century I'd like to make it a series that features the stories of the original Gundam series, Zeta Gundam, Double Zeta, Char's Counterattack, and maybe even Unicorn if we're lucky.**_

_**La Flaga: Well I guess we can't all be men who make the impossible possible.**_

_**Waltfeld: Well I guess all that's left to do is get on with the show. lyokoMARVELanime does not own anything from any of the Gundam or Transformers franchises or any other franchise that may be mentioned in this story.**_

* * *

**Chapter 9: One Storm's End**

The following morning saw the arrival of a Z.A.F.T. carrier that was transporting Waltfeld's supplies and the mobile suits Buster and Duel, along with the pilots of said suits, Yzak and Dearka. As the Z.A.F.T. troops unloaded the supplies, the Decepticons had begun gearing up for the battle that lay ahead. Knockout and Breakdown had made doubly sure that they would be able to use their alt modes effectively in the desert terrain while Thundercracker, Skywarp, and Slipstream were preparing their preferred additional weapons along with their default ones. Starscream, who had already completed his preparations, was talking with Waltfeld as the Z.A.F.T. commander looked over the report on the supplies he had been sent via a transmitter. Waltfeld was initially upset that Gibraltar had sent them ZuOOTs after saying they could not afford to send anymore BaCUEs, and made it no secret that he did not like the fact that Yzak and Dearka were from the Le Creuset team, mostly due to the fact that he could not stand the masked soldier, but he decided to deal with it and headed out to meet with the two pilots.

Dearka and Yzak had just moved their suits off of the carrier and onto the _Lesseps_ before disembarking from the large machines. As they walked towards the large mobile base's hatch, a small wind blew a bit of sand up causing them to cough and Dearka to wonder aloud, "What're we doing in this awful place?"

"They say you can't really appreciate the desert until you've lived here, so welcome to the _Lesseps_," Waltfeld called out getting their attention. "I'm Andrew Waltfeld the commanding officer here."

"Yzak Joule of the Le Creuset team," Yzak reported as he stood to attention.

"Dearka Elsman, also of the Le Creuset team," Dearka reported as he saluted along with his friend and comrade.

"It must have been tough getting down here. We appreciate you coming," Waltfeld commented as he returned the salutes.

"Thank you sir," Yzak replied. He and Dearka then glance off to the side at Starscream who was standing beside the _Lesseps_ watching his forces prepare. "Sir if I may," Yzak then asked. "Don't those guys know that they'd save power to their machines if they don't equip their mobile suits that way?"

Starscream heard that, and then spun around to slam his hand down near the silver haired boy as he snarled, "Insult me or our forces again by calling us mere mobile suits and I will be sure to do more than give you an additional scar to the one you already posses."

The two G-Weapon pilots stepped back in shock at Starscream's outburst as Waltfeld called out, "Hey easy there Scream. I'm pretty sure this is their first time encountering a Decepticon let alone a Cybertronian in general."

Starscream took a breath to calm himself as he said, "Yes of course, my apologies. It seems that I have forgotten my manners. I am Commander Starscream, first lieutenant of the Decepticon forces from the planet Cybertron."

The salute Yzak and Dearka gave Starscream were hesitant at first, but this was mostly due to the fact that this was in fact their first time meeting any of the Decepticon forces and were not sure how to address them. Though they would not deny that this encounter was shocking to them, as they had just believed that the reports they had heard of the large robotic aliens were merely rumors. Waltfeld then smiled as he said, "Speaking of scars, they say that when one doesn't have a bad scar removed, some might say it's a symbol of your commitment."

Yzak turned his head away, because this was not the case. He had actually kept this scar because it was one that he had received during a battle against the Strike and had decided to keep it until said mobile suit was defeated. This did not go unnoticed.

"Or perhaps since you turned your head away maybe it is a symbol of your humiliation," Starscream inquired with a smirk.

"Why don't you just tell us where the Legged Ship is," Yzak spat.

"Currently it is at a resistance base approximately one hundred and eighty kilometers southeast of here, but you should know that they are not alone," Starscream replied as Waltfeld moved to get a better look at the Duel and the Buster. "As I am sure you are aware by now, they are now aligned with our enemies the Autobots and their leader Optimus Prime."

"Please. Just give me a clear shot at him and I'll take this Optimus Prime out, no problem."

Starscream chuckled at Yzak's proclamation. "Bold words for a small boy, but you should be mindful after all, Optimus has years of experience in war that far surpasses any of your forces and has faced the fiercest of Decepticons including Lord Megatron and survived. I highly doubt you will be much of a threat."

Yzak snarled in anger at the silver, winged Decepticon but was then interrupted as Waltfeld softly observed aloud, "Yep. I see they're the same type of machines as that other one."

"And speaking of the Alliance's mobile suit Commander, what information can you give us about your engagement with it," Dearka asked, getting Waltfeld's attention.

"Yeah, well…we did as well as the Le Creuset team even with the Decepticons' help," Waltfeld admitted sheepishly. "Although to be fair, they were occupied dealing with the Autobot forces in said engagement."

"Just see to it that you two do not get in our way," Starscream told Yzak and Dearka. "Otherwise we will not be held responsible for what happens to you. This operation will see the end of Prime's new unit for certain."

"As I'm sure your past operations have Commander Starscream," Yzak retorted with a smug look.

Starscream growled at the scarred pilot for that and then stated, "Knockout and Breakdown will be working with the both of you for this assignment as your Decepticon partners, so I suggest you follow their advice when it comes to dealing with the Autobots." He then stormed off to speak with his elite forces about their preparations. "Thundercracker, Skywarp. Are you both ready?"

"Ready and raring to go Scream," Skywarp replied. "Though I kinda wish she wasn't here with us."

"Yeah why do we need Slipstream around anyway," Thundercracker agreed.

"Because Lord Megatron requested it," Starscream snapped, clearly irritated about having their sister around as they were.

"And because you are on thin ice _brother_," Slipstream snarled from behind Starscream, causing him to spin around in surprise. "Just remember, if you fail this operation, Lord Megatron will have your head."

"But of course, how can I forget," Starscream retorted sarcastically as she walked off. He then muttered under his breath, "Assuming I am still around to allow him the chance."

* * *

Meanwhile, the _Archangel_ was taking off to head out for what everyone hoped to be their final battle against the _Lesseps_ with the Desert Dawn following in their jeeps and as armed to the teeth as they could be. Though everyone was certain they would be victorious, they could not help but feel nervous as they all knew this would be their biggest battle yet against Andrew Waltfeld. It did not help matters that not one of the Autobots had been seen all morning and everyone knew the chances of encountering Decepticons was an absolute guarantee. As the large ship lifted off and moved to follow after Sahib and his forces, something appeared on one of the monitors.

"Captain! There's something coming from the mountain next to us," Miriallia called out. Everyone then looked in the direction Miriallia had indicated and soon enough, even aboard the _Archangel_, which was already a decent ways off the ground, everyone felt the ground begin to tremble. A moment later, a ship had emerged from over the mountain range and to say it was huge would be an understatement. The ship was easily at least twice the size of the _Archangel_ and had a gold and red color scheme. A pair of wings was mounted on the sides at the back of the ship near the main thrusters. Everyone could just barely make out the sight of the cockpit that was slightly raised in the middle of the ship, but what everyone could see clearly, was that on the side of the ship was a large, gleaming Autobot insignia.

Upon closer inspection, there was one other thing everyone could see. There standing atop the massive ship was Optimus Prime himself, almost as a symbol of hope, pride, and encouragement. A moment later, everyone could hear the Autobot leader's voice coming through their communicators. "We have all seen the wrongs committed by Z.A.F.T. in this vast, desert land and the people who live here and the people have long been asked to live by their rules. Today though, the rules will change, for today shall mark the day when a new dawn comes to this land and its people with the fall of the Desert Tiger, and it shall show Z.A.F.T. that even against overwhelming odds, the Autobots shall never surrender to any force, whether they stand alone or with Megatron and his forces. This vessel I stand upon shall become a symbol of what a true alliance between humans and Cybertronians can accomplish as it takes on the namesake of a fallen Autobot warrior. My friends, I give you, the _Omega II_, and with it we shall face this battle together and stand as one!"

A loud round of cheers was the response that came to this speech from everyone who heard Optimus's words, whether they be from the Autobots, the Desert Dawn, or even the _Archangel_ crew. Even Kira, who was eating in the _Archangel_ mess hall with Mu and Cagalli, was smiling at Optimus's words. Upon hearing these cheers, Optimus gave one final order before everyone moved out into battle, "Autobots roll out!"

Murrue then turned to face forward as she gave the order, "_Archangel_, take off!"

Not wanting to be outdone by either one of his new allies, Sahib gave his own battle cry. "Desert Dawn, rise to tomorrow!"

With that, the two ships, one of Cybertron and one of the Earth Forces, and the Desert Dawn headed off into battle.

* * *

The Autobots and their allies were not the only ones preparing for action though, as Waltfeld arrived in the _Lesseps_ control room demanding, "Tell me the enemy's position."

"Yes sir," The man sitting at the station which had said enemy on the viewing monitor. "They're moving North by Northwest from their last position."

As he looked at the image on the monitor Yzak snarled, "It's the Legged Ship."

"Hold up a second, what's that other one," Dearka asked. "The massive one with the gold and red color scheme?"

Waltfeld leaned closer for a better look and smirked as he observed aloud, "Well it seem that the Autobots now have a ship of their own." He then got serious as he stated, "They're heading for the remains of the Talbadia factory district. Well, I can't say I wouldn't do the same thing. If I was their commander I would try to blow right through us."

"What do we do sir," DoCosta asked.

"I'd hoped that they would wait a little bit longer, but we can't change that."

"Aren't we attacking," Yzak demanded.

"We are," Waltfeld smirked. He then turned to address the rest of the crew of the _Lesseps_. "Listen up! We're moving out! Code: zero two! Notify the _Petri_ and the _Henry Carter_ immediately!"

"Aye aye," the communications officer responded.

"I guess I should inform Starscream of the recent developments," Waltfeld commented to himself. He then moved outside where said Seeker was with his forces, and it seemed like he was having some sort of debate, to put it mildly, with Knockout.

"I'm just saying we should really consider all our options here," Knockout stated. "After all, a good weapon makes just as much a difference as the Con equipped with it."

"For the final time Doctor, we will NOT be using those drones in the next operation, especially in the case of the ones that handle repairs," Starscream argued. "I will not risk wasting our resources simply because your precious finish was scratched!"

"What?! I may care for my finish, but even I would not do something so callous!"

"I hope I'm not interrupting," Waltfeld called out, getting both Cons' attention. "But it seems the enemy's on the move. Oh and you should probably know that the Autobots now seem to have a ship of their own."

"Do you an image of this so called Autobot ship," Starscream requested. Knowing that the Seeker would ask for that, Waltfeld held out an image for him to see, which Knockout leaned down to get a better look at.

"Hm," Knockout observed. "It is definitely an Autobot vessel and clearly made with crude Cybertronian technology and engineering, most likely from using a combination of parts from the _Ark_and whatever else they could find. I speculate that more than likely this ship was built rather hastily and meant as a means of temporary travel across the planet, though incapable of reaching space on its own."

"You're certain of that," Starscream asked.

"Absolutely. If there is one thing I know in my limited knowledge of technical expertise, it would be that. Though if you wish for a second opinion, I'd recommend speaking with Breakdown or one of the Constructicons."

"Still it is impressive that you're able to get all that from just a simple picture," Waltfeld commented.

"Well…thank you," Knockout replied.

"If you two are quite finished, what is your plan human," Starscream asked.

"Simple we're moving out," Waltfeld replied.

"Excellent," Starscream smirked. He then turned to his forces. "Decepticons, we are moving to engage the enemy! Transform and rise up!"

Not a moment later, all four members of the Seeker family had transformed into their jet modes and taken to the skies along with the flyer drones, while Knockout and Breakdown climbed into the _Lesseps_'s hanger bay, as their vehicle forms would not allow them to get their as quickly as the others. Waltfeld looked on as he thought, _I suppose this is it. Let's see just whether or not I fight that young pilot today and whether or not I get the chance to finally at least see Optimus Prime on the battle field again. More importantly though, let's see if we discover our new __**friends'**__true colors as well_.

* * *

Kira let out a long sigh as he thought about the battle that lay ahead, just staring at his tray of food now. This did not go unnoticed by Mu. "What's taking you so long, hurry up and eat," the mobile armor pilot told him as he moved to place something else on Kira's and Cagalli's trays. "Here you two, eat these to."

Kira and Cagalli both looked and saw that Mu had placed the same Kabobs they had in Banadia the other day on their trays. "Huh? What the…," Kira exclaimed as he turned to look at Mu, who was enjoying his own Kabob.

"Believe me nothing beats fresh local eats," Mu declared as he hummed in satisfaction before he moved to enjoy more.

"Uh Commander," Kira asked. "Haven't you had enough to eat?"

"Yeah I mean you seem to be overdoing it a little," Cagalli said adding her two cents in.

"Listen kids," Mu told them as he paused again in his meal. "We're getting ready to go into a fierce battle here, one that'll even involve massive, metal soldiers of two armies from another world. If we don't eat we won't have any strength." He then held out a container for Kira to take. "Try this. It tastes great with yogurt sauce."

Kira and Cagalli both gasped at that statement as they remembered what Waltfeld had told them when he appeared before them the other day. Kira then looked down a bit sadly at Mu's confused expression as he stated, "It's just…the Tiger said the same thing. It tastes great with yogurt sauce."

"Huh, you don't say," Mu commented with a look, clearly showing he did not like the idea that he and an enemy commander had something in common. "That man knows his food. I'll tell ya, it's a lot easier if you don't know your enemy personally, so just forget him."

Kira and Cagalli both looked at Mu for an explanation on that, to which Mu elaborated, "When you're fighting for your life against an opponent you know personally, it's just that much harder to face him."

Kira thought back to the fact that he was facing Athrun, and then thought about how Optimus had to face Megatron in battle, someone the Autobot leader once considered a brother. Apparently, Cagalli was thinking the same thing as she softly said, "I can only imagine how hard that was for Optimus then. Having to face someone you consider a brother as an enemy."

Mu had to agree with her on that, and then he noticed that she seemed to be looking at something that she was holding in her hand. "What's that?"

"It's something that my friend Ahmed was going to carve and give to me someday," Cagalli told him sadly. "His mother gave it to me just before we left the camp."

"Huh," Mu said getting a better look at it, seeing it was a somewhat glowing, blue rock that fit in the palm of her hand. "Kinda looks like a chunk of Malecite and it's seriously huge."

Cagalli nodded at that as she thought back to her late friend and to her and Kira's encounter with Waltfeld the other day. As she did, she could not help but feel her anger towards the man grow while she silently swore to herself to make sure that the Desert Tiger would be defeated today. Everyone was then jostled out of their thoughts as they heard a number of explosions go off. "What was that," Cagalli cried out. "Are we under attack?"

* * *

Aboard _Omega II_, the same explosions had been heard and Bulkhead was already scanning where they had come from. "Prime," the large, dark green Wrecker called out. "The explosions came from the mine field! Looks like the enemy has set them off prematurely."

Optimus then turned to Bumblebee, who stood ready at the communications station and ordered, "Connect us to the _Archangel_ and Sahib's forces at once. I want them patched into our comms the entire time."

Another warning came in on the Autobot ship's computers, but this time it came from Arcee's station. "Sir, we have confirmation of Decepticon forces. Checking for id now." The other Bots waited with baited breath along with their human allies who heard Arcee's report as she scanned to identify the Decepticons. A moment later, the blue femme gasped at the signatures that the computer had identified. "Sir, we have a confirmed id match for multiple Decepticon drones, both aerial and ground based, along with Starscream, Thundercracker, Skywarp, and Slipstream. Further scans indicate that Knockout and Breakdown are also in the area."

All the Bots gasped at that. "Scrap. The entirety of the Seeker siblings are here," Hound commented aloud. "Like three of 'em wasn't bad enough."

_"__I see now,"_ Sahib commented over the communicators. _"The tiger and his new playmates are baring their fangs right at us."_

Optimus turned to lookout the view port and commented, "And so it begins."

* * *

"That's right, Launcher on the first machine and Sword on the second one," Mu stated into the communicator panel on the wall of the pilot's changing room where Kira was just closing his locker after grabbing his helmet. "I'll tell ya why. Because we're going to need all the fire power we can get for this battle!"

The blonde haired man then turned to Kira and Cagalli, who had elected to just slip on her usual battle vest over her usual clothes and a helmet, as he commented, "I'd really hate to say it, but I'm afraid we just can't rely on the fighting strength of those guerillas."

"I know," Kira agreed. Cagalli nodded in agreement as well because as much as she hated to admit it, the commander was right.

"I would wish you luck Kira, but after seeing you fight lately I don't think your gonna need it, especially when you add in the fact you have been training with two of the best Autobots there is according to their leader," Mu told the young coordinator with a smile.

Kira smiled as he thanked the older blonde for his vote of confidence and Cagalli smiled and wished him luck herself as she placed a hand on his shoulder. A moment later, Miriallia's voice came over the intercoms calling out, _"Commander La Flaga, Ensign Yamato, and Miss Cagalli. To your vehicles immediately!"_

"Let's go you two," Mu said as all three headed out the door to head for their respective machines.

* * *

"The _Archangel_ is preparing for anti-air, ship, and mobile suit combat to prepare for intercept," Hound reported. "We have confirmed that enemy forces on the human front consist of multiple attack aircraft, mobile armors, a carrier and an escort ship."

"What are your orders Optimus," Elita asked.

The large red and blue Autobot turned to address his troops. "Arcee, Bumblebee, Bulkhead, and I shall deploy from the ship to engage the enemy forces directly. Elita One, you have command of the bridge. Hound, ready _Omega II_'s weapons for battle."

"Yes sir," the bots replied as the three that Optimus addressed raced for the exit after him while Elita One moved to take her place at the command position and Hound punched in the necessary commands to bring the ship's weapons and defensive systems online.

"You sure this boat's ready for battle Elita," Hound asked, worriedly.

"Honestly Hound," Elita replied. "I wasn't all that sure she was ready to fly for as long as she has thus far this morning. We just have to have faith in this old girl and hope that she lives up to the names sake."

Hound nodded as he turned back to his console while muttering, "Primus help us."

Down in the armory of the Autobot ship, the four Bots were gearing up with their own choice of weapons that had Hound's seal of approval for action. Bumblebee elected to go with an Energon Battle Pistol, a weapon he was quite familiar with, Bulkhead a Thermo Rocket Launcher, Optimus decided to arm himself with a Path Blaster, and finally Arcee chose a Plasma Cannon. Bumblebee gave a quizzical look at Arcee's choice of weapons, knowing that it was the same weapon he used during some of his earlier battles of the war on Cybertron, but shook it off and decided it was not important. Once they had all completed their final checks on their weapons, Optimus told Elita over the comms that they were ready. A moment later, the ship's hatch had opened up to show the vast, sandy landscape that lay before them.

"Autobots," Optimus called out. "Transform and roll out!" As soon as the words left his mouth, the four Autobots assumed their respective alt modes and raced out through the hatch and into the hot, desert, reassuming robot mode just before they hit the ground. As soon as they did, they brought their selected additional weapons out and charged in with the Desert Dawn and the_Archangel_ close behind them.

As he readied his weapon to fire on the Decepticon drones, Optimus spared a glance at the _Archangel_ and saw as Mu's Sky Grasper blasted out of the left leg of the ship, and he saw that it was now equipped with a large green cannon and other weapons. A moment later, he saw Cagalli's Sky Grasper take off and noticed it was equipped with a light blue set of equipment that had what looked like a long sword on one side. The next thing he saw was the Strike deploying from the other side of the ship, equipped with its usual default equipment and activating its phase shift armor just after returning fire on an enemy aircraft with its Vulcan guns. _He really has improved greatly_, the Autobot leader thought to himself as he returned his attention to the battle field.

As the battle raged on, it was no surprise how quickly that the Autobots had engaged the Decepticon forces, with each one of the four members of Team Prime engaging at least one of the members of the Seeker siblings. Bulkhead was trying to hold his ground against the constant barrages from Skywarp as said seeker kept using his teleporting ability to quickly maneuver around the large Autobot, but thankfully, Bulkhead's larger size made him slightly more durable against Skywarp's Gear Shredder. "You should really give up you oversized oaf," Skywarp mocked. "You have no chance of keeping up with me."

"Yeah keep dreaming warp brain," Bulkhead retorted as he switched his left fist into a wrecking ball and swung at Skywarp, only for said Con to teleport away. "Argh! Will you quit doing that?!"

"Uh let me think. No!"

Bumblebee was firing off a number of rounds at Thundercracker when he suddenly found himself back to back with Arcee who was dealing with Slipstream. **_"So how're you doing,"_** the scout asked his friend.

"Oh you know," Arcee replied in a semi-casual tone. "Just about as well as I normally do when my opponent can just disappear at a moment's notice." Arcee was of course referring to the fact that Slipstream had an ability to boost her speed for a short burst of time so that she could move so fast it was like she was appearing and disappearing.

"What's the matter Arcee," Slipstream mocked as she primed her Null Ray. "Need your boyfriend to save your tailpipe?"

"He's NOT my boyfriend!" Arcee then let loose a charged up blast from her Plasma cannon which scored her a direct hit to Slipstream's right wing.

"Guess that just breaks your spark that she prefers another Bot over you huh Scout," Thundercracker taunted as he prepared to let loose another shockwave at Bumblebee, but as he did he failed to realize he was leaving himself wide open. A fact that Bumblebee exploited in order to land a shot right on the blue and red Con's chest. Bumblebee's retort to the injured Seeker was something that many felt was best left untranslated. Before either one of the two Bots could celebrate though, they found themselves being fired upon by Fliers and ZuOOTs from the enemy ships.

"Bee," Arcee shouted above the explosions and weapons fire. "Remember the sling and sting from the Decagon Plaza?"

If one could see Bumblebee's whole face, they would have seen him smirking as he grasped Arcee's arm. He then spun her around before tossing her up into the air from which she let loose a volley of blasts from her default arm blaster, scoring direct hits on the ZuOOTs weapons and distracting the drones long enough for Bumblebee to charge up and slam his fists into each one and hit the final one surrounding them with a couple of shots from his own default guns. Right when the scout had finished, a BaCUE raced up to try and hit him from behind, only to become acquainted with the heel of Arcee's foot as she landed. "Never gets old," Arcee commented. Bumblebee just nodded as he chuckled in agreement.

Meanwhile, Optimus was facing off against the lead Seeker himself, Starscream. "I'm honored by your undivided attention Prime, but what good will it really do," The Decepticon first lieutenant taunted while he used his cloak to turn invisible. "Should you not be more concerned with the well being of your new pets?"

"These humans are fierce warriors who will not quit until the end, and who know the risks involved in partaking in this battle," Optimus replied confidently. "I have no doubt that they shall stand victorious this day."

"We'll just see about that Prime," Starscream replied as he uncloaked and hit Prime in his back. Optimus only stumbled for just a brief moment before he spun around and fired a few shots from his Path Blaster, most of which Starscream just barely avoided by activating the rockets in his feet to take flight, but the Seeker did sustain one injury to his left arm at the last second. The Seeker then charged at Optimus as he readied his blade to strike at Optimus, but Optimus quickly switched his left hand into his own sword to parry the attack and fire a pair of shots from the Path Blaster. To anyone watching these two go at it, matching one and other blow for blow with both swords and blasters or just simple fisticuffs, it seemed like their battle could go either way. A fact that was beginning to seem true for all parts of the battle.

* * *

Back on the _Lesseps_, Waltfeld was suited up and preparing to board his own machine with Aisha acting as his gunner when they were held up by Yzak and Dearka, the former more than the latter. "What the heck is going on around here? Why are we stuck on top of the _Lesseps_, and with those two Decepticons acting as a pair of babysitters," Yzak demanded.

Said two Decepticons, Knockout and Breakdown, felt a bit insulted at being called babysitters as Breakdown shouted, "We are not babysitters of any sniveling little human brats."

"What?!"

"Oh my," Waltfeld cut in. "Do all members of the Le Creuset team object to their superior officer's orders or are you just extra special?"

"No," Yzak bit back in an attempt to save a little face. "However, we have a lot more experience against the Legged Ship. More than you or those over grown tin cans do."

"Losing experience doesn't count," Aisha remarked with a smug smile.

"And I'd watch who you call a tin can considering we can easily crush you like a tin can under our feet," Breakdown smirked.

"What," Yzak cried out.

"Aisha," Waltfeld gently warned his lover.

"Easy Breakdown," Knockout warned his partner.

After Waltfeld got a soft apology from Aisha he turned to Yzak and explained, "Your suits are designed for artillery battles, so they can't handle a high speed engagement like the BaCUEs. You won't keep up."

Knockout then added his two cents stating, "And while you may have experience dealing with the Legged Ship and the Earth Forces mobile suit, you have yet to have at least seen even one of the Autobots in battle let alone faced one of them. That, along with the fact that our alt modes are not all that useful in the desert, is why Breakdown and I are acting as your back up for this battle."

Before Yzak could try to protest again, Dearka cut him off by placing a hand on his shoulder and saying, "Yzak forget about it, we've got our orders." The blonde then turned to Waltfeld and saluted excusing the two of them with the two land based Cons following after them.

"Don't worry," Dearka reassured Yzak. "When it gets messy out there we'll get plenty of chances."

Yzak paused for a moment then smiled in anticipation as he agreed a smile that was shared by Breakdown. "I'm honestly looking forward to seeing what you guys can do in battle myself," the blue, hammer wielding Decepticon told the two humans.

"Alright DaCosta I'm leaving you in charge of the ship," Waltfeld said from inside his and Aisha's machine as they made their final launch preparations. "Oh and be sure to watch yourself when it comes to our Decepticon friends.

_"__Yes sir,"_ DaCosta replied.

With that the Desert Tiger ended his communications for a moment as he declared, "Waltfeld, LaGOWE heading out!"

Immediately after, the orange colored machine had burst out of the _Lesseps_ and blasted across the sad as soon as its treads had hit the ground. A battle that saw the Strike disabling a BaCUE that had been bearing down on of the Desert Dawn's jeeps as Kira displayed more of what he learned from his training session with Optimus and Bumblebee by following up with tossing his beam saber into the eye of another BaCUE and knocking it off its feet with a hard kick. As he did, the _Archangel_ fought back with as many of its weapons as it could, while Mu fired a shot from the Agni cannon on the escort ship and Cagalli used her planes sword to disable and destroy another BaCUE.

As he continued to fight and watch the battle unfold, Kira could not help but think back to the question Waltfeld had asked him about how you truly determine how a battle is finished in war. _How do you determine the winners and the losers? At what point do we put an end to it? When every single one of your enemies has been destroyed?_ Kira shook his head in an attempt to clear it of these words that were plaguing his mind right then, and then received an alert on the Strikes scanners. Sadly it did not come quickly enough, as the _Archangel_ was suddenly struck by an attack from behind.

_Another enemy ship,_ Kira thought to himself. The sound of the explosion had drawn the attention of the Autobots as well, and they all saw that there was in fact another enemy ship approaching from behind that was firing on both the _Archangel_ and _Omega II_. _"Optimus, come in,"_ Hound shouted over the radio. _"Another enemy ship has launched an attack from behind us! It's an ambush!"_

"No the _Archangel_," Kira cried out as the ship was fired upon again, but before he could move to help he suddenly found himself being fired on. He quickly maneuvered the Strike out of the way and saw that his attacker was the LaGOWE which quickly maneuvered around to cut Kira off from the ship.

"Hey there you little hot shot," Waltfeld said over a channel that he knew Kira could hear him from. "You gotta fight me first."

Kira growled in response and saw that the Autobots were now getting bombarded even worse than they were before. Bulkhead, Arcee, and Bumblebee had all had to discard their extra weapons after using up the all their ammunition for each of them and were now fighting with just their default blasters and melee weapons, while Optimus was now struggling to fight off both Starscream and a sudden swarm of Decepticon flyers and Z.A.F.T. attack copters and BaCUEs. Things were definitely starting to take a turn for the worse for the Autobots and their human allies.

To make matters worse, one of the attacks from the ambushing enemy vessel suddenly caused the _Archangel_ to get itself caught in some old buildings that were used for storing gas. Cagalli saw this and quickly veered her Sky Grasper off to try and fend off the ambushing transport so that the _Archangel_ would not be too much of a sitting duck at least for a bit with Mu following a short while later. Before either one of them could attempt to fire on them though, they suddenly found themselves being fired upon from Skywarp and Slipstream, both in their jet modes, who had managed to give their Autobot opponents the slip. This did not go unnoticed by the Autobots for long though.

"Bumblebee, Arcee," Optimus shouted out as he fired off his last few shots in his Path Blaster at a pair of BaCUEs, disabling the machines long enough for the pilots to escape before they exploded. "Give whatever support you can to the Sky Graspers!"

"Understood," was the shared response from the two Bots before they ran over to help said fighter planes and their pilots, firing shots from their default blasters as they went. With Slipstream and Skywarp temporarily distracted by Arcee and Bumblebee, Mu and Cagalli were able to finally take out the enemy ship's weapons. A moment later, Cagalli swooped over to cut the _Archangel_free from what it had been caught on, allowing the ship to swing around and bring its cannons to bear on the _Lesseps_. One shot from each of the _Archangel_'s Gottfrieds and the _Lesseps_ was rendered crippled just after the Duel, the Buster, Knockout, and Breakdown had jumped off to avoid being hit.

"Didn't expect this," Dearka gasped as the Buster suddenly began to lose its footing on the sandy ground. "Not from the famed Desert Tiger."

"And the bad news just keeps on coming Con sympathizer," a voice called out from nearby. The two Z.A.F.T. reds and Decepticons turned to the source and saw Bulkhead with his right arm blaster and left wrecking ball hand armed and primed for battle. "So who wants to get scrapped before I call for clean up?"

Before Breakdown could respond Slipstream's voice came over his comms shouting, _"Decepticons, prepare to retreat."_

Breakdown growled at that. "Next time Bulkhead," he snarled as he transformed and raced off with Knockout and the two G-Weapons following after him.

As Cagalli watched this, she saw that the _Lesseps_ and the other Z.A.F.T. forces were also in retreat and thought to herself, _Looks like it's finally over. The struggle to free this land from the Desert Tiger is really over._ She then glance and saw that it was not quite over yet. "Kira! Optimus," Cagalli shouted. "They're still fighting against enemy units!"

* * *

"DaCosta," Waltfeld called out. "Send out orders to retreat."

_"__But sir…"_ DaCosta tried to protest.

"We have to cut our losses. Regroup the remaining forces and retreat to Banadia, and then notify Gibraltar."

Before DaCosta could say anything Waltfeld shut off his communicators and told Aisha, "You too Aisha. Get out of here."

Aisha just smiled and returned her attention to her controls as she replied. "I'd sooner lay down my life. Not a chance."

Waltfeld smiled as he proclaimed, "So we're both idiots."

"I'm fine with that." Aisha then lowered her scope as she prepared for their next attack on the Strike.

"Okay, then let's get him," Waltfeld shouted as he charged at Kira and his mobile suit once more. Something that Kira was not too eager for at the moment as the Strike was running low on power and was now down to his last beam saber.

"Don't do it," Kira cried out. "Please stop this! You've already lost the fight! Surrender!"

Sadly Kira's words fell on deaf ears and he had to parry another charge attack from the LaGOWE with his shield. Seeing Kira was in trouble, Optimus tired to move to help, but was cut off by Starscream. "Ah ah Prime," the seeker taunted. "We can't interfere in another's battle now can we?"

"This battle is over Starscream," Optimus declared as he readied both of swords in defense. "You should heed the words that Andrew Waltfeld gave to his forces and those of Slipstream and simply surrender."

Starscream just snarled as he charged at Optimus with his own sword. "NO! This battle ends when I SAY IT ENDS!"

Optimus parried Starscream's attack and then engaged the seeker once more in an all out sword battle, all the while making his way over to where Kira was battling with the Desert Tiger. As he did he intercepted a message to Kira from Waltfeld in which the Desert Tiger stated, "Like I said, there are no clear rules for ending a war like this."

The LaGOWE's cannons then suddenly exploded off its back as smoke started to emit from where the explosion occurred. This did not seem to slow down Waltfeld as he shouted out, "There's no other way. I'm not giving up…UNTIL ONE OF US IS DESTROYED!"

As he declared that, the Strike finally lost power, shutting down its phase shift armor and beam saber as a result. Now both machines had barely anything left, and it was down to one final attack that would end it all. Kira then had the Strike pull one of its daggers from its skirt as he discarded the shield and the flight pack, and charged to meet Waltfeld. Before either one could though, Kira suddenly pulled to a stop as Waltfeld was intercepted, caught in a firm hold by none other than Optimus Prime.

"Andrew Waltfeld," Optimus declared as he spun around with machine still firm in his grasp. "You have lost!" With that, Optimus gave the machine a hard toss that caused it to land on its back, jostling both the pilot and his lover from their seats. Optimus knew the machine was about to blow, and ran to try to pull them both out before it was too late with Kira and the Strike close behind. Just before they could reach them however, a missile hit the LaGOWE causing it to explode violently.

The explosion had grabbed everyone's attention, including that of DaCosta, Yzak, Dearka, Breakdown, Knockout, and the three seekers who were all still close enough to see what had happened. When everyone turned to where the shot was fired from they were all beyond shocked. Standing there with his arm raised in a firing position, and reloading his missiles to replace the one he had just fired, was a smug looking Starscream. "And so came the tragic end of the famous Desert Tiger," Starscream declared with an uncaring, mocking tone.

Kira just stared in utter shock, as Starscream had just fired upon and killed one of his own allies. Kira felt a pure hatred building in him that could only have been matched by the rage he felt towards the Seeker when he had killed Cliffjumper and would have moved to attack him had Optimus not placed a hand on the Strike's shoulder and shook his head, letting Kira know that now was not the time to try and bring down Starscream and that there would be another day to do so. Starscream proved this to be true as he transformed into his jet mode and flew off, avoiding the shots that were fired upon him from his now former allies.

Kira then looked back at where the man he had just fought tooth and nail against in anguish, as he thought about everything that Waltfeld had given him to think about, the time he spent just talking with the enemy commander, until finally he shouted out, "It didn't have to end like this!"

"I agree Kira Yamato," Optimus said. "Though I had only faced him briefly in this one battle, I could sense that he was a man of honor who cared greatly for the lives on both sides of the conflict, and would have wanted nothing more than for this war between Earth and Z.A.F.T. to end." Optimus then turned to where the man he spoke of had just died as he proclaimed, "Andrew Waltfeld, the Desert Tiger of Z.A.F.T. Your courage and sacrifice will not be forgotten…till all are one."

With that said, the Desert Dawn began to retreat as the Strike and the two Sky Graspers returned to the _Archangel_ while the Autobots returned to _Omega II_. As soon as everyone had returned to their respective allies, the two ships headed out to where they would next land before beginning their voyage across the ocean to Alaska. During this time, Optimus could not help but think to himself that though this was the end of one storm, many more dangerous storms were on their way.

* * *

Sometime after the Autobots had left, Slipstream had returned to where the ruins of the LaGOWE now lay, and began searching with assistance from both Soundwave and his little helpers, Laserbeak and Rumble. As they did, Megatron suddenly approached the two as he calmly stated, "I sincerely hope that this was not an act that Starscream had any allies in."

"Rest assured Lord Megatron," Slipstream calmly stated. "My _brother_ had acted solely on his own in this matter. Though I knew there was a chance he may betray us eventually, I did not expect this, but I swear upon the AllSpark the remaining Seekers and I remain loyal to only you."

Megatron simply nodded at that as he returned his attention to Rumble and Laserbeak's efforts in scavenging the wreckage when Rumble suddenly called out that they had found something. Walking over, Megatron, Soundwave, and Slipstream looked down and saw that they had finally found what they had come down to Earth in order to find.

"Have the body transported back to the PLANT at once," Megatron commanded. "Vice Chairman Zala will be glad to know we have found one of his supposedly dead mightiest soldiers is still alive."

As Rumble and Laserbeak lifted the object into a containment unit Megatron softly commented to himself, "Be grateful for this second chance you are about to receive. Your services are still required Andrew Waltfeld."

* * *

Somewhere around the same time, a young green haired man in a red Z.A.F.T. uniform was making his way aboard a ship that would be taking him to Earth when a familiar voice called out to him. "Nicol."

The now identified Nicol turned and gave a happy smile at the sight of his comrade and fellow team member as he greeted, "Oh Athrun, hey! By the way I meant to thank you for coming with me the other day."

"It was my pleasure," Athrun stated as he exchanged a high five with his friend. "Boy that was a great concert."

Nicol gave him a sly look as he replied, "Come on you were sleeping."

"Uh…no I was just resting my eyes," Athrun protested, trying to save face, even though it was one of the oldest excuses in the book.

"Well you know the truth is I'd like to do a proper concert sometime."

Athrun smiled at his friend as Nicol gazed forward dreaming of that concert before telling him, "Not right now, but after Operation: Spitbreak comes to an end there should be plenty of time to do that."

"I know," Nicol consented. "But at least we had a nice extended break at home this time around."

"Yeah," Athrun sighed in agreement.

"Say Athrun, you were with the commander when Z.A.F.T. first made contact with the Decepticons right?"

"Yeah," Athrun confirmed in curiosity at why Nicol was asking that.

"What do you think of them from what you've seen so far?"

Athrun paused as he thought about it for a minute before giving his reply. "Well I've only really gotten to know one of them. His name's Dreadwing and he's actually going to be coming with us to Earth. He's a very honorable and proud warrior from what I've seen of him and I can honestly say that I'm glad I'll be getting the chance to work with him."

Nicol nodded at that before asking, "And what about Megatron? You met him too right? What's your opinion of him?"

Athrun paused again and then softly told Nicol, "Well he kind of makes my skin crawl, but he seems like a capable leader that my father approves of so…"

Nicol frowned a bit at that but gave a nod all the same. He had not seen much of the Decepticons himself, but Nicol was not entirely sure how eager he was to meet some of them given what he had heard about them from some people. Nicol then shook it off and decided to steer the conversation away from the Decepticons as he stated, "You know, I've never been to Earth before."

Athrun smiled at that himself as he told him, "I know it's my first time too."

The two friends continued to chat as their ship headed out to meet with the vessel that would transport them and their mobile suits to Earth, with Dreadwing following behind in his jet mode.

* * *

**_AN: Whoo-wee. That was something. My shoulder and hands still kinda hurts from all that typing._**

**_Waltfeld: Mind explaining that whole thing with Megatron finding my body or for that matter the thing with Starscream tried to kill me?_**

**_AN: Gladly. See every time I watched that final scene of the battle between Kira and Waltfeld in the show, I couldn't help but feel while it was one of the most epic moments in the series it was also one of the saddest seeing as how Kira now had ended another person's life like that so I figured I'd have Optimus step in and try to prevent those deaths, only to have Starscream pull his great betrayal right then with what he did. After all we all know that Starscream had to go off and try to become a force of his own eventually, so I figured this seemed like the perfect place and time for that to happen._**

**_La Flaga: What about that whole Megatron finds Waltfeld's body thing._**

**_AN: I was getting to that, you see I always kind of wondered how Waltfeld was recovered and brought back to the PLANT after his battle with Kira, and I'm not sure it was ever fully explained, so I figured I'd give a bit more explanation into that this time around, and speaking of this time around expect Waltfeld to have a few more changes to him this time than in the original continuity._**

**_Waltfeld: I'm not gonna end up being brainwashed and turned into a full on villian am I?_**

**_AN: Nope but it will be seriously cool. At least in my opinion which I hope everyone will share when we get to that point._**

**_La Flaga: I get the feeling you should feel nervous pal._**

**_Waltfeld: Gee thanks for the vote of confidence blondie._**

**_AN: Okay moving on to the preview..._**

**_The _****Archangel****_ and _****Omega II****_ finally make it to the red sea as they begin their voyage across the ocean, but everyone knows full well that the voyage will not be a peaceful one. This fact is proven to be true as the Z.A.F.T. attacks the ship while the Le Creuset Team and the Earth Decepticon forces, now led by Athrun and Dreadwing respectively, prepare to head out in pursuit of both vessels. However, an intense battle separates Cagalli and Arcee from their respective ships and strands them both on a deserted island with none other than Athrun Zala and Dreadwing themselves. How will the two fierce women handle being stranded with these two enemies, and what secrets of the planet will being trapped there reveal?_**

**_Next time on Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Prime…_****Chapter 10: Island Encounters****_. Prepare for the unexpected Arcee and Dreadwing!_**

**_Oh and before I forget, I have put up a poll for some side story chapters which pairs up each of the Autobots with at least one of their new human allies. These stories will take place during the time that the _Archangel_ and the Autobots are in Orb so you can expect it to start around that time. The poll is mainly just to see what team up you want to see first. I hope to have the poll up by the end of this week, and whichever one has the most votes by the time I start on the first of those chapters will go up first and be removed from the list. That will continue that way for a while so here's an early preview of the nominees:_**

**Arcee &amp; Cagalli**

**Kira and Miriallia &amp; Bumblebee and Elita One**

**Mu La Flaga, Murdoch, and Sai &amp; the Wrecker Trio**

**Ramius and Badgiruel &amp; Jazz and Ratchet**

**Optimus and Ironhide &amp; Kira and Erica Simmons**

_**Once again this poll is now live, and yes I have now confirmed who the Autobots will meet once they arrive in Orb. If you can't figure out who the third Wrecker is then here's a hint: his signature is one grenade, one shot. If you can't figure it out then you need to go back and watch Transformers: Prime.**_

_**La Flaga: Well that all seems rather exciting.**_

_**Waltfeld: Yeah I'll say, Kira gets to team up twice.**_

_**La Flaga: Yeah what's the reason for that anyway?**_

_**AN: Eh...I ran out of people from the **_**Archangel_ to team with the Autobots. Anyhow..._**

**_Remember to read and review. I'll see you next time!_**


	10. 10: Island Encounters

_**AN: Happy early Veterans Day everyone! Ah a day to celebrate and remember the brave men and women who made the courageous choice to serve their country. A moment of silence for them please...**_

_**[Blaster fire goes off]**_

_**AN: DAH! What the spark man!**_

_**Megatron: Last I checked, the people who serve in your armies are shown respect by a show of arms.**_

_**AN: That's...you...ugh! Forget it, just give a moment of silence next time like I said. Oh and by the way, welcome our special guest for this chapter, the lord and leader of the Decepticons, Megatron.**_

_**[audience boos]**_

_**Megatron: What is the meaning of this?!**_

_**AN: What? The remote's broken. [mouths a not]**_

_**Megatron: I should have you disintegrated by my fusion cannon.**_

_**AN: Yeah you do know I have the power to basically kill you off in the next chapter if I wanted to right?**_

_**Megatron: You would not dare.**_

_**AN: Wouldn't I?**_

_**Megatron: ...[softly chuckles]. I like your style human.**_

_**AN: uh...thank you?**_

_**Megatron: Well let's see how this story progresses with this chapter. May I?**_

_**AN: Uh sure.**_

_**Megatron: lyokoMARVELanime does not own any of thing from Gundam or Transformers.**_

* * *

**Chapter 10: Island Encounters**

Gibraltar, the main Z.A.F.T. Earth base, was abuzz with activity as everyone on the base was preparing for Operation: Spitbreak especially with space drops on a nearly daily basis, and since the drops were always in Z.A.F.T. airspace, there was nothing the soldiers at the Earth Forces Alaska base JOSH-A could do about it. The latest of the arrivals from space being the machines Aegis and Blitz, along with their respective pilots Athrun Zala and Nicol Amalfi, and the Decepticon warrior Dreadwing. After Athrun and Nicol left their machines they headed for one of the Gibraltar base's briefing rooms to meet with the rest of the Le Creuset team with Dreadwing heading to where his fellow Decepticons were as they were meeting both with the Le Creuset team over a holo-communication device and Megatron himself.

Just barely halfway there, Athrun and Nicol could already tell what they should expect when they arrived there as they could already here Yzak yelling. As soon as they reached the door, Athrun announced their arrival before he and Nicol entered, but when they did both boys gasped in shock at what they saw. "Yzak…that scar," Athrun exclaimed.

Athrun was of course referring to the scar that Yzak still had not removed and would no doubt not ever remove until the Strike was defeated at last, a fact that Le Creuset made clear to both Athrun and Nicol. After receiving a friendly greeting from Dearka, Le Creuset then introduced everyone to the Decepticons that most of the four pilots were not familiar with. "Gentlemen, I would like to start by introducing you to the Decepticon leader himself, Lord Megatron," Le Creuset calmly stated with his usual smile.

"A pleasure to meet some of Z.A.F.T.'s finest soldiers at last, and the fact that you are each so young is also very impressive," Megatron stated.

"Thank you sir," Yzak replied as he, Dearka, Nicol, and Athrun saluted. Megatron then took note of the last of the four.

"Ah Athrun Zala, a pleasure to see you again," the Cybertronian war lord said.

"Likewise Lord Megatron," Athrun answered hesitantly, feeling just as nervous as he did when he first spoke with Megatron.

"Now then, if I may introduce the rest of the Decepticon team that will be working with you," Le Creuset stated, continuing from where he left off. "Yzak and Dearka have already met most of them, but for those of you who haven't, this is Thundercracker, Skywarp, Slipstream, Breakdown, Knockout, and finally Dreadwing the first Decepticon Z.A.F.T. had encountered on that fateful day."

"Hey how's it going," Thundercracker asked.

"Yeah yeah hi," Skywarp waved.

"Great more humans," Slipstream muttered.

"A pleasure to work with such fine warriors, who happen to pilot quite the impressive machines," Knockout stated in an over exaggerated manner.

"Hmph," Breakdown huffed.

"It is a pleasure young mobile suit pilots," Dreadwing greeted, being the only one to have any true respect in his greeting.

"Yzak Joule, pilot of the Duel," Yzak introduced, followed shortly by his fellow pilots.

"Dearka Elsman, pilot of the Buster."

"Nicol Amalfi, pilot of Blitz."

"Athrun Zala, pilot of Aegis."

"Now that we have that out of the way," Knockout stated. "I must say I actually agree with what scar boy here was saying. We must pursue the Autobots and the Legged Ship as soon as possible."

"I agree with the good doctor Lord Megatron," Slipstream stated, not even bothering to acknowledge that Le Creuset had a say in their actions as well. "Aside from Dreadwing, my brothers and I are closest to their last known position along with these two land based Cons. While bringing in Starscream is now a high priority for the Seeker siblings, since we do not know where he even is at the moment this is clearly our best course of action right now."

"Silence Slipstream," Megatron commanded in a barely restrained tone of voice that hid a promise of pain if she were to argue. "Lest you wish to suffer the same fate that your traitorous brother shall when he is finally captured."

Seeing that Slipstream had been effectively shut up, Le Creuset continued with what he was saying. "They do have a point though Lord Megatron. The Earth Forces Legged Ship must be stopped from getting to Alaska with the data its acquired; however, I'm afraid this mission has already been assigned to the Carpentaria Base."

"But Commander, that's our job! This is unfinished business for us," Yzak argued.

"I feel the same way Commander," Dearka proclaimed.

"And we feel the same way as well Lord Megatron," Thundercracker stated.

"We've all been humiliated by those guys as well," Dearka finished.

Megatron smirked at this as Le Creuset stated, "Needless to say I feel the same, and I believe that Lord Megatron does as well. Am I wrong?"

"No you are not Commander Le Creuset," Megatron stated. "After all we cannot forget that the Legged Ship is being aided by the Autobots and that means that Carpentaria is gravely outmatched."

"Agreed." Le Creuset then turned to address everyone in the meeting. "Lord Megatron and I have to prepare for Operation: Spitbreak so we must remain here or aboard the _Nemesis_, but if you feel that strongly about it why don't you all go try it yourselves?"

"Yes sir," Yzak agreed excitedly.

"Then we shall form a joint Decepticon-Z.A.F.T. team," Megatron stated. "The Z.A.F.T. team shall consist of Dearka Elsman, Yzak Joule, Athrun Zala, and Nicol Amalfi while the Decepticon forces shall be Slipstream, Thundercracker, Skywarp, Knockout, Breakdown, and Dreadwing."

"Excellent suggestion Lord Megatron," Le Creuset agreed. "And each of your respective commanders will be…," Le Creuset paused for a moment before he made his decision and turned to face the one to lead the Z.A.F.T. team. "Athrun, I'm putting you in charge of the Z.A.F.T. team. Lord Megatron, might I suggest that Dreadwing be the one to lead the Decepticons?"

"I could not agree more on either decision," Megatron stated. Both Athrun and Dreadwing were surprised at this sudden assignment, though Dreadwing was more contained in his shock than Athrun.

"I shall have you assigned to a submarine carrier in Carpentaria," Le Creuset told Athrun. "You should prepare to leave immediately."

"Dreadwing, I am granting you and your new team usage of a special drop ship which will be awaiting you in Carpentaria as well. You should also prepare to leave for there at once," Megatron informed Dreadwing. "Slipstream, I suggest that you make certain that the craft is fully functional for this mission."

"Yes Lord Megatron," both Decepticons replied.

"Are you sure Commander," Athrun asked Le Creuset.

The masked man simply put a reassuring hand on Athrun's shoulder as he told him, "That ship and its new allies have now become a real thorn in our sides, so it will not be easy Athrun. I'm counting on you. Good luck."

With that, Le Creuset left the room with a simple nod to Megatron, who dismissed himself a moment later. "So now we're the Zala team? Oh this should be good," Yzak stated sarcastically, clearly indicating he felt he should have been put in charge of the Z.A.F.T. team.

Dreadwing turned to face the Z.A.F.T. pilots. "I shall be taking off for Carpentaria as soon as I have made sure each of you has left without any problems. Decepticons, I shall see you when I arrive at Carpentaria," Dreadwing stated.

"Understood…sir," Slipstream replied with a hesitant salute before she ended the communication.

A short time later, Nicol, Dearka, and Yzak departed for Carpentaria with Athrun and Dreadwing following shortly after due to a delay in the launch for Athrun's transport. Dreadwing was now more than certain that both the Legged Ship and the Autobots would so face there doom, while Athrun was doing all he could to calm his nerves before his mission as team leader began and so that he would be ready to face his friend, Kira, once again.

* * *

Around that same time, the _Archangel_ and _Omega II_ had left the desert at last, and had begun their voyages across the sea, with the former seeing the addition of both Cagalli and Kisaka to their crew and the later now absolutely sure that the ship was ready for anything in battle. After getting reassurance from Sahib that the Desert Dawn will continue to fight for their land against Z.A.F.T., and that they would call the Autobots if they ever needed their assistance again should the Decepticons return, they were all able to leave with clear consciences.

Some time after they had left, both the ships' crews had taken some time to venture above deck for some fresh, salty sea air. It was a wonderful feeling for many of the members of the human vessel, while the Autobots were simply amazed with the beautiful sight of the vast ocean that now lay around them. Though this peaceful break soon came to an end when they came under attack by a Z.A.F.T. submarine carrier.

The Autobots did not participate in the first battle that they face at sea beyond having _Omega II_ defend itself with the main shield and weapon systems, but in the battle that followed, they noticed that the attacking Z.A.F.T. forces now had Decepticon flyers with them so they could not stand by and do nothing.

Kira was especially grateful for their assistance as the Strike was not capable of atmospheric flight and could not swim, at least not all that well, but as usual Kira was able to adapt and make sure he could handle his situation. As for the Autobots, who had never had to battle out at any sea other than the Sea of Rust back on Cybertron, they made do by moving out to fire at enemies from on the deck of their ship while at least two of them used jet packs that were designed and calibrated as best as possible by Elita and Hound. The two in this case being Arcee and Bumblebee, who had worked together very often in the past, and were now handling so well this time that to some of the humans in their group it almost seemed that the two were dancing in mid-air. This did not do anything to divert the problem that soon arose for them.

Sometime during the battle, Cagalli's plane was hit and her navigation was taken out, forcing her to retreat, but unfortunately she soon lost all her bearings and got lost, prompting Arcee to fly off to help her. Sadly, before the two could return to either of their respective ships, they came across a Z.A.F.T. transport.

"What are they doing out here," Arcee wondered aloud. "Think they might be enemy reinforcements?"

"If they are, then we've got to take them out," Cagalli replied. Before Arcee could stop her, the blonde haired girl had already brought her plane around to attack, to which the transport responded by opening fire before Cagalli could fire off one shot.

Arcee quickly maneuvered herself on her jetpack to swoop in and help out, but she was not fast enough to save Cagalli's plane from being hit. Thankfully, Cagalli was able to successfully land a single shot that seemed to disable the enemy plane, causing it to release the cargo it was carrying and retreat. Arcee did not bother to get a good look at what had been ejected from the large carrier as she had already moved to try and catch Cagalli's Sky Grasper. Just when she was within arm's reach though, Arcee was fired upon as well, with her jetpack suffering damage. The blue femme turned to see what she knew immediately to be a Decepticon in its alt mode, and responded by firing a single shot of her own from the Plasma Cannon she had brought out into battle, rendering the Con unable to continue flying for much longer.

Though they had stopped their current opponents, it did nothing to prevent both women, human and Autobot, from crash landing on an island in the middle of the ocean. Arcee was the first to regain consciousness and quickly tried to radio _Omega II_ for help. Unfortunately, the only response Arcee received was static, so she opted to check on Cagalli and see if the young girl would have any better luck.

"Cagalli," Arcee called out once she reached the Sky Grasper. "Cagalli can you hear me?"

Cagalli soon woke up and looked to see Arcee just above the canopy of her plane. "Arcee," Cagalli called out in surprise. She then looked herself over to see if she suffered any injuries before looking back to Arcee and stating, "I'm okay. Guess we made it."

"We're not out of the woods yet kid, or I guess I should say off the island yet," Arcee joked. She then got serious and said, "Can you contact the _Archangel_?"

"Hang on," Cagalli said, turning on her radio while bringing up her plane's onboard keyboard. "_Archangel_ come in. This is Cagalli, and I'm with Arcee. Can you hear me? _Archangel_, come in," Cagalli called out.

As soon as she looked to Arcee and shook her head no, Arcee knew they would not have much luck calling for help. Then Cagalli thought of something else. "Hey Arcee. You still have your jetpack right? Maybe you can fly us back."

"I wouldn't be able to get the Sky Grasper back, and you know we can't leave it here and risk the enemy getting their hands on it. Besides, even if I wanted to fly us back at all, I couldn't" Arcee replied as she pulled off the jetpack and tossed onto the ground nearby. Cagalli looked at the large piece of equipment and saw that it too was damaged as well. "I can send out an Autobot distress signal and hope that _Omega II_ can receive it, but then we'd reveal our location to the enemy as well."

"So then I guess we're stranded," Cagalli asked.

"Not necessarily," Arcee replied. "_Omega II_ can track my spark signature so they should still be able to find us as long as nothing happens to seriously damage me enough."

Cagalli just nodded before grabbing her emergency supplies and climbing out of the plane, with help from Arcee as a way to ensure that her supplies were not washed away by the tide. The two then decided to see how much of the island there was and that it would make sense to not be near the Sky Grasper in case Z.A.F.T. or the Decepticons suddenly showed up and moved a little ways inland after bringing the white and blue plane to a more stable point on the shore. They did not end up walking for long though, as they soon found themselves on the beach at the other end of the island.

"Wow this is a tiny island," Cagalli commented. "I wonder if its inhabited."

"Hard to say," Arcee said. "Given the fact that we did not even see it was here till we landed, I'd say it's too small to appear on most radars or maps."

Cagalli then gasped and softly called out, "Arcee look! There's a mobile suit here!"

Arcee turned to where Cagalli had indicated and sure enough, there was a grey mobile suit sitting on the shore, and given what she had heard from Bumblebee, she recognized it as the Aegis. Then Arcee noticed something that Cagalli had missed. "That's Dreadwing," Arcee gasped.

Cagalli then saw the well known red color of a Z.A.F.T. pilot's uniform and moved to pull out her gun before Arcee stopped her, telling her to get down and take cover. Unfortunately for the two, the dislodged some rocks when they moved for cover, and caught the attention of both the Z.A.F.T. pilot and Dreadwing.

"Scrap," the two women said in unison seeing that their cover was blown. Cagalli then pulled her gun out and opened fire on the Z.A.F.T. pilot, getting in a lucky shot that scratched his arm as he ran for cover. Arcee then brought out her Plasma Cannon and opened fire on Dreadwing who also headed for cover.

The two women slid down the small hill that they were previously on and moved cautiously towards where their respective enemies were, and where said enemies had dropped their guns. Slowly but surely, Cagalli made her way towards the Z.A.F.T. pilot while Arcee carefully moved towards Dreadwing. When the two each noticed that their enemies had each dropped their guns, they both aimed their respective weapons at where they knew their opponents were and moved towards the dropped fire arms.

Once she was near the enemy's gun, Cagalli got a better look at the Z.A.F.T. pilot and had to contain her surprise at the sight of him as he crouched down and drew a trench knife from his boot. The pilot was a young man who seemed to be the same age as her and Kira, and had blue hair and green eyes. The Z.A.F.T. pilot was not the only one to draw a close range weapon, as Dreadwing also quickly pulled his sword from where he held it on his back and moved to a ready defensive position. Each of the pairs paused for a moment to stare down at one and other, or rather glare down at one and other, before Cagalli and Arcee each looked down for a moment before kicking away their enemies' guns. That turned out to be just what the two blade wielders were waiting for.

At that instance, the Z.A.F.T. pilot and Dreadwing both leaped away, vaulting over the rocky hill top as they avoided the shots being fired by said girls until they were out of sight. Cagalli and Arcee then took a moment to reload before Cagalli ran over to the Z.A.F.T. pilot's gun and picked it up. As soon as she did though, the blue haired boy then leapt right at her from where he was hiding and kicked the retrieved weapon away. Arcee looked over to her human companion when she heard Cagalli gasp in shock at the pilot's actions, a momentary distraction Dreadwing took advantage of as he leapt towards Arcee and used his sword to knock Arcee's Plasma Cannon out of her grasp as well. Arcee was not about to let that stop her though.

Moving quickly, Arcee readied her Arm blades and met Dreadwing's sword as he swung it downwards to try and slice her in half. The two pushed their blades against the others, glaring as they did so, in an attempt to overpower the other when they both suddenly heard Cagalli scream in fear. The two looked to see that Cagalli was pinned down under the Z.A.F.T. pilot as he had raised his knife to strike at her.

When Cagalli looked to see why the boy had not tried to stab her yet she saw that the boy had gained a look of shock as he stared at her, until finally he found his voice and simply said, "…A girl!"

Cagalli was breathing heavily at that, whether it was from exhaustion or her brief panic attack none of them knew, but she instantly got angry as she shouted, "That's right I'm a girl! What is it with you men?!"

The young pilot started moving off of her a little ways, but not enough to let her up, and that's when Dreadwing noticed Arcee's attention was still on the two humans. Taking advantage of the Autobot's moment of distraction, Dreadwing pushed Arcee away with his sword causing her to stumble long enough for Dreadwing to tackle her to the ground and move to lock her in a pair of stasis cuffs he had brought along with him just in case.

"Arcee," Cagalli shouted, trying to move towards the downed Autobot, but suddenly she found herself still being held down by the Z.A.F.T. pilot and realized there was nothing either one of them could do right then.

* * *

Sometime later, Cagalli and Arcee found themselves unable to do anything other than watch as both Cagalli's gun and Arcee's Plasma Cannon were thrown into the water by Dreadwing and the Z.A.F.T. boy. Arcee was now locked in stasis cuffs while Cagalli had her hands and feet tied up by rope as both lay in the sand on the beach. Arcee then looked in Dreadwing's direction and snarled, "Well look who's not on his leash. What happened Dreadwing did Megatron decide to let you taste a bit of freedom for once or did you get locked out of the house?"

Dreadwing just gave Arcee a small look before turning away to ignore her, prompting Arcee to continue. "Awe what's wrong? Did Megatron say not to talk to any strange Autobots or are you just being shy in the presence of two ladies?"

"I would watch my mouth if I were you Arcee," Dreadwing responded without looking at her.

"Or what," Arcee snarled. "You'll silence me like your _master_ did Bumblebee?!"

Dreadwing was about to spin around and drive a sword through Arcee's throat when he saw the Z.A.F.T. pilot shake his head no and immediately stood down. Seeing this Arcee continued saying, "Oh I see now. Megatron has decided to dump you on someone else hasn't he?"

"On the contrary," Dreadwing said as he moved towards Arcee until he was standing over her, "this human is actually my new Z.A.F.T. partner."

"Didn't think Cons were the type to work with life forms that they thought were beneath them." Arcee gave herself a metaphorical pat on the back, seeing as she could not do so literally at the moment, before turning towards the green eyed boy as he spoke to Cagalli.

"Tell me are you really with the Earth Forces," he asked as he pulled out his first aid kit to treat the injury he suffered when Cagalli shot him. "You're not carrying any identification, and besides, I've never heard a soldier scream like that."

Cagalli could not help but blush at that comment while Arcee thought _I was kind of hoping he would have forgotten about that, but I guess that was wishful thinking._

"Sorry about that," Cagalli replied.

"You guys are the ones who tried to shoot down our transport aren't you?" Both girls started wondering what led him to that conclusion when the boy explained, "I saw your downed aircraft on the other beach."

"You guys tried to shoot me down," Cagalli argued.

"She is right you know," Arcee put in, getting the human boy's attention. "You did fire on her first, and then I tried to save her before your gold faced friend here decided to take a cheap shot at me."

"In the battlefield one should never let their guard down for anything," Dreadwing calmly stated.

"Oh I'm sorry, I guess letting your guard down must mean something different for Cons, considering that last I checked it didn't mean the same thing as trying to help a friend or comrade."

Dreadwing snarled at Arcee and whipped out his sword before the boy shouted, "Dreadwing no! She's just trying to rile you up."

Dreadwing nodded and put his sword away before moving to sit a short ways off and reaching for his communicator. "Don't bother," Arcee called, getting Dreadwing's attention once again. "The other Autobots are closer to us and I couldn't get a signal through to them, so what makes you think you'll have any better luck calling your friends?"

Dreadwing just lowered his hand looked away for a moment before turning back after hearing the Z.A.F.T. pilot ask Cagalli, "Tell me something pilot, what group do you belong to and why are you alone?"

_What am I, one of their spare mobile suits_, Arcee thought to herself. "I am NOT a soldier," Cagalli half shouted. "And I don't belong to a group, and I don't want to be here!" Cagalli ended up with her face in the sand when she said that last part after she tried to rise, which led to both the pilot smiling a bit in amusement while Dreadwing just thought, _Earth females are just as strange if not stranger than those of Cybertron._

The pilot then stood up as he zipped his suit back up, having finished bandaging his injury and moved to walk towards his mobile suit before Arcee called out, "Wait." Seeing she had the boy's attention, Arcee asked. "In all seriousness, I know that Dreadwing has only been reported to have been seen with two Z.A.F.T. pilots and only one of them pilots a machine that fits the description of that one there."

"And where did you get a description of my machine," the pilot asked.

"From my friend and comrade Bumblebee," Arcee admitted, seeing no harm in saying so around Dreadwing as he knew that only Bumblebee could have given any Autobots a description of the G-Weapon. "That being said, I have to ask, are you Athrun Zala?"

The pilot paused for a moment before answering, "Yeah that's right. I'm Athrun Zala of the Le Creuset team, and if I heard Dreadwing right, your name's Arcee isn't it?"

Arcee just gave a small nod in reply, to which Athrun gave a small smile as he turned to Cagalli and asked, "And that just leaves you, so would you mind if I asked what your name is?"

"Yes I do mind," Cagalli snapped.

"Well too bad cause I'm asking anyway."

Cagalli huffed at that before answering, "Fine. The name's Cagalli."

"A pleasure," Athrun stated, though whether or not he was joking or serious it was actually hard to tell.

"So are you one of the guys who attacked Heliopolis," Cagalli then asked. Seeing Athrun's surprised look when he turned to face her again, Cagalli continued by saying, "I was there when it happened. I was at Heliopolis when you guys destroyed it."

Athrun paused for a minute before answering. "Yeah I was there as well."

With that, Athrun walked away to the Aegis to try his own attempts at calling for help, leaving Cagalli and Arcee lying in the sand with Dreadwing watching over them.

* * *

It was sunset when Athrun finally reported on his progress to Dreadwing who was simply staring out at the horizon as he stood watch over the two prisoners. "Sorry Dreadwing, but I'm not getting anything through. There's too much damn interference."

Athrun saw Dreadwing nod in response and then the two turned at the sound of thunder, only to see that storm clouds were rolling in, but Dreadwing did not know that. "Are we under attack," the Decepticon commander asked.

"No just relax Dreadwing," Athrun replied. "It's just thunder. Of course that means that a storm's starting to roll in."

Dreadwing nodded in understanding before relaxing; having gotten tensed up by thinking he was hearing enemy fire. The two then saw a flash of Lightning which lead Athrun to ask, "Hey are you going to be okay if you get struck by a lightning bolt?"

"While your planet's elements can cause harm to me Athrun Zala, it would need to be in much greater amounts than what a small electrical storm can produce to cause me harm."

Athrun nodded in reply then had the Aegis launch a small distress beacon out into the water so that their allies would know where to look for them. Of course Dreadwing had told Athrun that the Decepticons could find them by tracking his spark signal, but Athrun felt it was better safe than sorry. Dreadwing then caught Athrun's attention when he said, "It would seem that the young human female that is currently in your custody is having some trouble at the moment."

Athrun looked and saw that Cagalli was currently lying in a small stream, just barely keeping her head above the water. He moved the Aegis so that its shield was over her to shield her from the rain before leaving the cockpit to go down and talk to her. "Hey there," Athrun called out getting her attention. "Whatcha doin'?"

"Isn't that fairly obvious," Cagalli retorted. When all she got from Athrun was a small grunt she then stated, "I can't move." Athrun still just looked at her with a half bored expression, which was starting to get on Cagalli's nerves. "Don't just stand there! Hurry up and help me!"

"I don't think you're in any position to tell me what to do," Athrun chuckled.

"Hey pretty boy," Arcee called out from where she was, having now moved just enough to have crawled over to where the two humans and Dreadwing were. "You can either shut up and give the girl a hand, or I can snap these cuffs apart and blast you into the next universe. Your choice."

Finally, Athrun moved to help Cagalli out of her small predicament, but only partially because Athrun did want to take the chance that Arcee could break free and do as she said. As soon as he helped her to sit up straight Athrun asked Cagalli if she was okay. A moment later, a small crab crawled out Cagalli's hair and down Athrun's arm before falling into the small stream beneath them. The two stared at each other, with Arcee and Dreadwing staring at the both of them, until Athrun started to softly laugh. "What's so funny about a little crab," Cagalli demanded.

"Sorry," Athrun replied. "It's just that I've never experienced this sort of thing before coming to Earth."

"You talk like this is your first time on your own planet," Arcee stated.

"Actually it is for him," Dreadwing confirmed.

Arcee just looked at both Dreadwing and Athrun incredulously, not hearing Cagalli's sarcastic question to Athrun as she stood to let the rain wash the sand off of her. _How can someone not have ever been to there species own home world for nearly their whole life,_ Arcee wondered. The next thing she knew, she was released from the stasis cuffs. When she looked to where Cagalli was standing, she saw that Athrun had also released the blonde girl from her ropes as well.

"You two can fight all you want, but with no weapons you're not much of a threat to me," Athrun told Cagalli.

"And as for you Arcee," Dreadwing stated. "While you are a threat to me under normal circumstances, these are not normal circumstances so until we receive help, we shall simply have to call a brief truce."

"What do you mean by that," Arcee demanded, getting an angry glare sent towards Dreadwing from Cagalli as well. "You can just fly out of here on your own."

"Normally you would be correct, but I have been assigned to work with Athrun Zala and, unlike most Decepticons, I do not intend to disobey an order from Lord Megatron such as that. That being said even if I wanted to leave I could not. When you shot me down, it rendered my flight capabilities damaged."

Arcee nodded at that then extended her hand for a handshake, which Dreadwing accepted as she stated, "Fine. Truce, for now."

Athrun smiled at the sight of two enemies agreeing to put their differences aside for a moment before he turned to Cagalli and said, "By the way Cagalli, you seem to have another stowaway."

Cagalli instantly searched herself until she realized that she did indeed have another crab in her shirt and shook it out. Realizing she had lifted her shirt up for a moment, she glanced at Athrun who simply turned away before purposely falling into the water himself.

"Men," Arcee muttered, casting a glance in Dreadwing's direction.

"What...What?!"

* * *

A short while later, night had fallen, and Cagalli had effectively washed all the sand off of her, and sat across from Athrun by a campfire while she held a blanket around herself as her clothes dried. Arcee and Dreadwing sat at the opening of the cave the two had set up a temporary camp in for the night realizing that they would be there overnight. A fact Athrun had confirmed when he told Cagalli that the air waves were jammed.

"You guys are the ones responsible for making a mess of the airwaves," Cagalli retorted at that.

"Here we go again," Arcee commented aloud.

"You may find this hard to believe, but I agree with you Autobot," Dreadwing stated.

"We only did that because of the Earth Forces' nuclear attack," Athrun argued. He then turned to see that the rations he had handed Cagalli were still untouched. "They may have been prepared by a Z.A.F.T. pilot but those are still your rations you know."

Cagalli wanted to ignore him, but her stomach decided that it would have none of that as it grumbled loudly. Seeing that Cagalli had finally seen reason and helped herself to the food, Athrun smiled a bit before he turned to sit down against the cave wall again. "Hey shouldn't I still be tied up," Cagalli then asked. Athrun just quirked an eyebrow in confusion. "I could wait 'til you let your guard down then take your gun, then the tables would be turned."

Athrun just laughed at that. "Why are you laughing," Cagalli demanded.

"Cause of you," Athrun replied. "You just won't give it up, will ya?" Athrun then sighed as he calmly stated, "If you go for my gun I'll have no choice but to kill you, so don't even think about it. Besides, it's like Dreadwing said, we might as well call a temporary truce anyway until we're rescued because there would be no point in doing anything else."

Cagalli just huffed in response before admitting, "I never thought a Z.A.F.T. soldier would worry about my life. Besides why would you want to work with these Decepticons anyways? Don't you know what they did to their own planet?"

"Leave my kind and I out of this please," Dreadwing told her, with a not so subtle hidden threat in his voice.

"Funny the way I heard it their planet was destroyed because of the war," Athrun stated. No one tried to argue the matter on that any further, so Athrun just stated softly, "You know…we never dreamed that would happen to Heliopolis. It wasn't supposed to go down that way at all. Our only mission was to take the mobile suits Morgenroete developed. Nothing else was supposed to happen."

"But it did happen," Cagalli reminded him. "The fact is that you guys attacked and destroyed that colony."

Now Athrun was starting to get a little irritated with the blonde haired girl, though one really must wonder why he was not more upset by this point considering she did try to shoot him a few hours earlier. "It's also a fact that Orb had declared itself neutral and then built those things at Heliopolis," he argued. "We're only fighting to protect the PLANTs, our homes, so we can't just look away when they're building those machines."

"It's the same thing for us. We're only fighting because you guys came and brutally attacked the Earth." After that statement, Cagalli and Athrun had another stare down that allowed Arcee and Dreadwing both the chance to see just how much fire was in each of their eyes when it came to their respective beliefs on these matters, a fact that was shown more well by the reflection of the campfire's flames in their eyes.

Finally Athrun turned away with a downcast expression as he admitted, "It's just that…my mother was on Junius Seven." That caused both Cagalli and Arcee to gasp in shock, the later having heard about the PLANT colony that was destroyed in a nuclear attack from Bumblebee along with the other Autobots. "It was only an agricultural PLANT, and yet innocent people were obliterated in an instant, even children! Did you expect that we'd do nothing?"

Cagalli felt sorry for Athrun, but still had to argue, "A lot of my friends died too, all because of your attacks!"

The two then resumed their glaring contest until finally Dreadwing cut in saying, "Oh for Primus's sake will you both give it a rest?! It doesn't matter how much you two argue, it won't change a thing about how the other feels at the moment or what had happened."

"That's pretty ironic coming from you," Arcee sneered.

"You care to repeat that?"

"You heard me. You, a Con who fights as a way to avenge his brother, would try to stop an argument like this?"

Dreadwing just barely contained himself from charging up and strangling Arcee. "I would advise you not to talk to me about Skyquake. Especially when it's you of all Bots."

Arcee froze for a moment as she adopted a neutral expression. "What do you mean by that," she asked.

"I've heard all about you Arcee," Dreadwing answered calmly. "The sole surviving member of the Autobot unit known as the Omnicons, and I also heard how you simply let your newest partner and old friend, Cliffjumper, just race off right to his doom."

Dreadwing would have continued, but he suddenly found himself slammed against the rock wall by a very pissed off Arcee. Athrun and Cagalli would have moved to stop the two, but one look at Arcee showed them that it was not a good idea to get in her way right then. Arcee then ran up and snarled at Dreadwing, "Don't you _dare_ talk about any of them like that! You should be thankful that you weren't forced to watch as your partner was tortured and killed right before your optics! You seriously think you have suffered Dreadwing, well then think again, because the suffering this war has brought you is nothing compared to what I've had to endure! One of my closest friends can never even hear the sound of his own voice because of your lord and master, my unit was wiped out and tortured for information we did not have by a Con that is lower than scum, another of my closest friends was killed by another of your fellow Cons, but worst of all, IT'S BECAUSE OF YOUR KIND THAT I LOST THE ONLY FAMILY I HAD LEFT!"

That last bit caused Dreadwing to truly be shocked to his core, along with Athrun and Cagalli. Finally, Dreadwing gathered what courage he could and asked, "Wh-what do you mean by that?"

Arcee finally moved off of Dreadwing before she walked a little ways away from him and sat down, holding her knees against her chest as she tried to stop herself from crying while she replied. "Have you heard of the Autobot ship, _Xanthium_?"

Dreadwing nodded stating, "It was the ship that was led off into space by Sentinel Prime."

Arcee then continued, barely holding it in at that point. "One of the Bots on that ship was my older sister."

Cagalli and Dreadwing both gasped in shock at this new revelation, the former because she had no idea that the tough Autobot femme had a sister and the later because of the revelation that he and this fierce Autobot warrior actually had something in common with each other. At that point, Arcee had finally broken down and started to softly sob in her arms at the memory that she had just revealed.

Seeing all this, Athrun and Cagalli silently agreed to drop what they were arguing about as the former opted to lie down in order to get some rest. Cagalli then noticed that the rock that her friend Ahmed's mother gave her had fallen out of her pants pocket, and quickly picked it up before walking over to Arcee, and placing a hand on the female Autobot's leg in an attempt to calm her down. Arcee looked down at Cagalli's touch, and gave the girl a small, tearful smile in thanks before she noticed the blue, luminescent rock in Cagalli's hand.

"Where did you get that," Arcee whispered in shock.

Cagalli quirked an eyebrow in confusion before she realized what Arcee was talking about and replied, "It was something my friend Ahmed was going to carve and give to me. His mother gave it to me before our last battle in the desert. Commander La Flaga said it looked like a huge chunk of Malecite."

"Cagalli, that's not Malecite," Arcee whispered in shock. "That's…that's…"

"What? What is it Arcee?"

"That's a piece of pure, raw energon." This answer was something that shocked Cagalli so much, that she could not even begin to believe it. Before she could ask anything more, Cagalli heard a soft moan, and turned to see that Athrun seemed to be dozing off.

"Hey you," Cagalli softly scolded a bit, startling Athrun awake. "You can't fall asleep."

"I…I…I'm not," Athrun stuttered. "I just…I transferred from the uh…and descended into the…," Athrun's muttering was soon silenced as he ended up falling asleep anyways.

Seeing that her supposed captor had fallen asleep, Cagalli could not help but wonder what was with that guy as she placed another piece of wood on the fire to keep the flame going.

* * *

Seeing as Athrun had fallen asleep, and things had seemed to have calmed down for the moment, Dreadwing decided that it would be best to leave the two humans alone for a moment, and moved off to give both them and Arcee some space, but Arcee was not about to let him go off on his own. The next thing the two of them knew, they were actually moving a little ways inland again away from their human companions.

"Quite the interesting human Megatron has partnered you with," Arcee commented after what felt like hours of awkward silence.

Dreadwing just nodded in reply before deciding to break the tension. "I…apologize for what I said earlier."

Arcee looked at him in surprise, not quite believing that she had just heard a Decepticon apologize for something. She then remembered that Dreadwing was not like most of the Decepticons and figured that it should not be too much of a stretch for him to apologize for something, even if it was to an Autobot. After taking another moment to let all that sink in, Arcee simply shook her head and told him not to worry about it. Before either of them could continue any sort of conversation, they heard a loud crack from close by. The two looked at and then nodded at each other as they both moved to investigate. What they found though was not what they were expecting.

There, digging up fresh, raw energon from a cave on the small island, was none other than Starscream. Dreadwing was ready to charge at the treacherous seeker, but was stopped when Arcee approached him. "How the mighty hath fallen, wouldn't you say Scream," she stated casually.

Starscream screamed in surprise but then relaxed when he saw who it was. "Ah if it isn't Arcee, the mighty Autobot warrior. What brings you to this small island?"

"I was actually just about to ask you the same question. Quite the impressive load of energon you've got there. Mind telling me how you came upon it?"

"Well…I suppose that there's no harm in it," Starscream mused. "You see before I left the _Nemesis_, I discovered something that I'm sure that even Megatron's ever efficient eyes and ears, Soundwave, had missed. The entire planet has vast amounts of energon buried beneath it."

_So that's how Cagalli's friend happened upon a piece of energon,_ Arcee thought. _He must have accidentally stumbled upon one of those reservoirs._ "And I'm guessing you didn't report this to Megatron."

"Peh, even if I didn't he probably knows by now. Not that it really matters now seeing as I seem to be your prisoner, all I ask is for one simple thing."

"And what would that be," Arcee queried, now getting on guard.

"Asylum," Starscream replied. "I simply wish for the Autobots to keep me safe from Megatron's wrath in exchange for what inside information I had acquired before I had…resigned."

"Is that what you call murdering an ally and then taking off with your tailpipe between your legs?"

"I sense you do not trust me."

"That would be putting it mildly," Arcee stated flatly. "I've got more than enough scores to settle with Decepticons like you, especially when it comes to a certain bug I'd like to squash."

"Ah yes," Starscream moaned. "I remember _her_ all too well."

"Well I'm pretty sure I'd remember her better than you Scream, seeing as she killed my partner."

"WHAT," Starscream shouted. "How could she have even heard about that, let alone take credit for something I did?!"

Arcee looked at him in confusion at that. "I was talking about my partner Tailgate."

"W-what? Who's Tailgate," Starscream stuttered, praying that he did not just reveal to Arcee what he thought he did.

Sadly, he did, and realization had dawned on Arcee. "It was you," she snarled. "You're the one who killed Cliffjumper!"

Now Starscream was panicking, and with good reason as Arcee had armed her blades and charged at him in blind fury. The Seeker did all he could to avoid Arcee's blows, but it was no use as for every blow he avoided, he found himself hit with another two or three. In no short order at all, Starscream was on the ground with Arcee over him, one blade arm raised to strike. "This is for Cliff," she snarled.

Before Arcee could strike him though, someone grabbed her arm. Turning to see who was stopping her, and saw, to her surprise, that it was Dreadwing. "He's not worth it. Not right now Arcee," Dreadwing stated.

Arcee growled for a bit before she pulled her arm free and got off of Starscream. "Go. Leave now before I change my mind."

Starscream did not need to be told twice, as he scrambled to run away from both the angry, vengeful Autobot, and Dreadwing. The two watched as Starscream flew away, his energon stash completely forgotten, until they heard a gunshot from Athrun and Cagalli's camp site. The two decided to leave it for another day and raced back to the camp to make sure the two humans were all right.

* * *

The following morning, Athrun had been woken up at early sunrise by the sound of the radio on the Aegis going off along with its proximity alert. The former was due to him receiving a call from Nicol, the later was because he picked up another vessel approaching by sea.

As soon as he had every bit of information he needed, he gathered his supplies and went up to Cagalli to tell her the news. "The Z.A.F.T. rescue is on its way, and it should be here soon," he told Cagalli. "And there's another vessel coming by sea. Its heading in the direction of your aircraft."

Cagalli gasped in surprise at that, but she had a feeling she knew who was coming. Arcee looked at Dreadwing and asked, "Are you going to be okay?"

Dreadwing gave Arcee a neutral look before nodding and saying, "My self-repair systems have been able to repair most of the damage to my alt mode's flight capabilities so I should be able to fly myself to the nearby Z.A.F.T. base where I'm sure that my allies are waiting."

Arcee nodded as Athrun told Cagalli he was going to hide his machine so that the island would not become a battle field. "Well I guess Arcee and I should get back to my aircraft," Cagalli told Athrun with a smile.

"Right," Athrun said with a sad smile. Cagalli then gave Athrun one more smile before she began to make her way back to the Sky Grasper. Before she got too far away, Athrun called out, "Hey Cagalli, are you sure you're not with the Earth Forces?"

"Nope I'm not," Cagalli replied. Athrun looked down in thought, as he thought about how much alike Cagalli was in comparison to Kira, but was quickly brought out of his thoughts when he heard Cagalli call out, "Hey Athrun. Despite what or how it happened, it really was nice to meet you."

Athrun smiled at this and replied, "Same here." He then turned to Arcee and said, "And the same goes for you Arcee. I'm glad I got to meet at least one of the Autobots formally."

Arcee nodded to Athrun with a smile, an action that was copied by Cagalli as the two then turned and ran back to the Sky Grasper. Athrun and Dreadwing watched the two for a moment before they both turned away and went to hide the Aegis, the former with a ghost of a smile on his face.

As the two girls headed back to the Sky Grasper on the other side of the island, Cagalli looked to Arcee and asked, "Hey Arcee, I know you probably don't like to talk about it, but can I ask what your older sister's name was?"

Arcee looked down with a sad smile and replied, "Chromia. Her name was Chromia, and she was the best older sister I could've asked for."

Cagalli then smiled at Cagalli as they finally reached the beach, when they heard something come up from the water. The two turned and saw the familiar white, yellow horned head of the Strike and quickly ran out towards the water as she called out to Kira. Arcee watched her go as she knew that as soon as she saw Optimus she had to tell him of what she had learned from Starscream, as the fact that there was energon buried on Earth was something that would make a major difference in the war between Autobots and Decepticons.

* * *

**_AN: Few, I think this is one of my longest chapters yet._**

**_Megatron: Why is it that spineless fool Starscream has had more appearance time in this story than I have?_**

**_AN: That's what you're wondering about? Whatever. Well anyways, I had to have the two sides learn that energon was on Earth somehow and this seemed like the best way._**

**_Megatron: Hmph. Whatever you say._**

**_AN: Also I just want to say that I wanted Arcee to have a bit more to deal with in her past than she did in Transformers Prime. I thought that she would be more vulnerable if I set it up so that she had an older sister, plus I wanted a way for Dreadwing to be able to relate at least one of the Autobots. In case it isn't obvious at this point, I am setting things up so that Dreadwing will eventually switch sides._**

**_Megatron: WHAT?!_**

**_AN: Hey it happened in Transformers Prime, sort of, and I always did like the Cons that ended up questioning their decision to side with Megatron or just ended up working with the Autobots like Starscream in Transformers Armada or Scourge in Transformers Cybertron. I've just always felt like Dreadwing's betrayal of the Decepticons could have gotten more out of it._**

**_Megatron: ...well I suppose I can see some appeal to that. But while we're here, can I ask you something?_**

**_AN: Depends on what you mean by ask._**

**_Megatron: If you ever try to bring me back as Galvatron, do NOT make me face Rodimus Prime._**

**_AN: You don't have to worry about that. I don't have any plans for Rodimus to show up in this story or the sequel, but whether or not he appears in the third story...eh its still up debate. Onto the preview..._**

**_Next time, the Zala team has cornered the _****Archangel****_, with Dreadwing's forces holding _****Omega II****_ at bay, and both teams are ready to destroy the two ships. When things seem their bleakest, Cagalli reveals her secret, which grants both ships a brief asylum in the nation of Orb. What is the reason for Orb granting the two ships this asylum, and what surprises await the Autobots in the neutral nation. Next time, _****Chapter 11: Welcome to the Land of Peace****_. Dash across the ocean and reunite with old friends Gundam and Autobots!_**

**_AN: Oh and one more thing, the poll for the teams of the Orb Missions arc is now up. Vote now for which team you want to see first, and vote soon because there is only one chapter left before that begins as you've probably noticed. So vote for the teams you want to see the most first, and whichever team has the most votes by the time I have to post the chapter will be removed from the poll after that chapter is voted, leaving which ever teams are remaining to be voted for as the next team in the chapter that follows, and so on._**

**_Read and Review, and see you next time. Once again, Happy early Veterans Day._**


	11. 11: Welcome to the Land of Peace

_**AN: Ladies and gentlemen, it is here! The chapter that brings together all but five of the final members of the Autobot team, and the chapter that is the prologue to the Orb Missions Story Arc. That being said, I am proud to announce that the wining first team...will be made clear in the preview for the next chapter. The new poll to select the second team is already up and on my profile so be sure to check that out and vote for the team you wish to see in action next. Also this chapter will introduce a special OC character for this story, and I will explain the reasons for the addition of that OC later on at the end of the chapter. Now I would like to take this time to answer a few reveiws:**_

_**Cybertronian Kaijuruto: In terms of this story itself, no there will not be any other Age of Extinction Bots, but there will most definitely be some appearing in the sequel to this story, and I agree with you the new designs for Optimus and Bumblebee were awesome and the Dinobots, EPIC!**_

_**Lone Gundam: The question of what Chromia will be doing in terms of sides when Sentinel shows up, now that would be telling, but I am glad you like the idea of Arcee having a sister in this story. I always kinda thought Arcee was the kind of Bot who cared a great deal about her friends and her family in Transformers Prime so I figured why not give her some more depth by giving her an actual relative.**_

_**hornofdesolation: I did not know any of that, because I only ever saw the anime, I have not ever read any of the manga for any Gundam series, but thanks for that bit of info, just do me a favor and next time you decide to tell someone something like that, do it through a private message please?**_

_**Now then, let's get down to business. I do not own anything from the Gundam or Transformers franchises.**_

* * *

**Chapter 11: Welcome to the Land of Peace**

The ocean is said to be both one of the most fearsome and also one of the most peaceful parts of the blue planet that humanity called home, which of those things held true at a time would change in almost an instant. Some of those who travel the seas whether they would be sailors, explorers, or even pirates would tell you that being able to travel the seas is like being free, but at the moment the _Archangel_ and _Omega II_ would actually have to disagree.

Shortly after Cagalli and Arcee had returned to their respective ships, the two vessels had been assaulted by the Decepticons and Z.A.F.T., namely Dreadwing's unit and what they assumed to be the Le Creuset team, though if one were to ask Mu La Flaga he would tell you that they were not being targeted by the Le Creuset team, even despite the fact that the four stolen G-Weapons were their opponents. When asked how the commander knew, Mu would just say that he was not entirely sure, but that he somehow had some sort of instinct that told him when Le Creuset was nearby like some kind of ESP.

Whatever the case, it did not really matter all that much, as the _Archangel_ and _Omega II_ still had to fend off the attacks that the two allied forces, and they were more than determined to make sure that both ships completed their respective missions. The first few attacks they faced were not as difficult to deal with as they only faced the four mobile suits and a small number of Decepticons, but this time was different as the enemies of the two ships were now coming at them in full force. Mu and Kira were doing all they could against the enemy, but unfortunately with Cagalli's Sky Grasper still being repaired they had become somewhat shorthanded. The Autobots were also facing problems as well, since they were also short one jetpack, which meant that they could only do so much about their air born opponents. Optimus himself was using the jetpack to handle the enemies from the air while Bulkhead, Bumblebee, and Hound handled things from up on the deck of the Autobot ship. The battle was more than simply fierce, it was brutal and it was about to get worse.

"Autobots," Optimus shouted from the air. "Disable each of the Seekers first! _Omega II_, provide the _Archangel_ with covering fire!"

Though they had each received the orders, the Autobots were all more than eager to argue that said orders were easier said than done, as each Decepticon was aided by one of the Z.A.F.T. machines. As such, Bulkhead had a hard time pinning Thundercracker due to interference by the Duel, while Hound had to struggle with a barrage from the Buster while dealing with Skywarp at the same time. Bumblebee temporarily lost sight of Slipstream due to interference by the Blitz who was now moving to flank the _Archangel_, and had switched to trying to fire at Knockout and Breakdown, who had assumed positions similar to those of him and his fellow Autobots aboard their own vessel, which some of them had commented to seem like a smaller version of the_Nemesis_. The next thing any of them knew, an explosion sounded from one of the _Archangel_'s Valiants causing all the Autobots to look to see that said weapon had been blown apart by the Blitz and Slipstream.

_"__Hey, they needed that,"_ Arcee shouted over the communicators from the bridge.

"Oh great," Bulkhead muttered. "Now Bee's girlfriend is saying that too, and to the enemy no less."

**_"_****_Bulkhead! She's NOT my girlfriend,"_** Bumblebee shouted over the sound of explosions near their own ship, one of which ended up being a destroyed weapon. **_"Bad enough the Cons say that to try and throw us off in a battle, but now even my own teammates?!"_**

"We may have other problems aside from whether or not a relationship exists between Bee and Arcee," Hound called out as he fired off some rounds from his Scrapmaker. "Anyone else notice the large fleet of ships gathering a little ways away from us?"

Everyone had indeed noticed, and they all knew why. It was because the battle was getting close to the border of Orb's waters. Seeing as Orb was neutral in this conflict, they were all well aware that the nation was obligated to make sure that a battle did not enter their territory, but at the rate things were going, it seemed like the _Archangel_ and _Omega II_, would end up having to make an emergency landing in Orb territory. Optimus however was determined to not allow that to happen.

"Kira, we must eliminate the aerial advantage our allies currently have," Optimus shouted to the coordinator pilot.

"We're way ahead of you Optimus," Kira called out as he blasted apart the aircraft that the Duel was riding on top of and then quickly had the Strike leap into the air with its thrusters in order to disable it. Kira then followed up by knocking the Blitz off its own transport and destroying that aircraft as well. This did not last long though, as Thundercracker and Slipstream soon came up underneath the two in vehicle mode, giving both a new transport.

"Why didn't we do this to begin with," Yzak demanded.

"Because we prefer not to degrade ourselves by acting as mere transports for human children in large toys," Thundercracker replied.

"And yet you turn into jets, a vehicle that humans normally ride inside of."

"Uh…well…shut it!"

"Both of you shut it," Slipstream hollered. "Now hurry up and get that guy!"

"Slipstream," Dreadwing called. "You're too far out!"

Sadly his warning came too late, as Slipstream was soon knocked out of the sky by Optimus Prime's sword, with Thundercracker soon following after being hit by the Strike's beam rifle.

"Kira…," Athrun whispered. "Your skills have improved."

"Indeed they have," Dreadwing agreed, having been the only one to have heard Athrun. "They seem quite similar to the fighting styles of some of the Autobots."

"You think that he's been training with them or something?"

"It's possible."

The whole time the battle was going on, both sides were wondering what was going through the minds of the Orb governments, but they did not have to wonder for long, as all ships in the area received a message from the Orb fleet. _"This is a warning to the Earth Forces ship, all Z.A.F.T. forces, and all unknown forces also involved in the vicinity. You are currently approaching Orb Union territory. Alter your course at once! In defense of our neutrality we strictly prohibit all armed ships, aircraft, and mobile suits from entering our waters. Turn your forces away at once! Should you fail to change your course, we will exercise our nation's right to defend itself and we will open fire on you!"_

"They can't be serious," Bulkhead cried. "Are they really threatening all of us?"

_"__I'm afraid so Bulkhead,"_ Murrue replied. _"We are dangerously close to their territory, and Orb is not our ally. Not only that, but since they more than likely know nothing about the Autobots and Decepticons they will consider you hostile as well."_

_"__Never mind any of that,"_ Cagalli's voice then called out from the _Archangel_, indicating said blonde was on the bridge. _"Proceed into their territory. That goes for you as well _Omega II_."_

"Cagalli, what are you planning," Hound asked. He got his answer a minute later, as Cagalli opened a communication line to Orb as well as all other forces.

_"__How dare you say those things after seeing the mess we're in,"_ Cagalli half shouted. _"The _Archangel_ and the vessel known as _Omega II_ are going to cross into Orb territory, but do not open fire!"_

_"__Who is speaking right now,"_ the Orb fleet commander demanded.

_"__Who am I speaking to?! If you really can't tell who this is then connect me to your superiors!...Call my father. Call Uzumi Nara Athha. My name is Cagalli Yula Athha."_

Now that gave everyone, human, Autobot, and even Decepticon a major shellshock, the last of the three being Dreadwing more so than others. None of them had ever expected that Cagalli was actually the daughter of Orb's chief representative, and to find out that she had been with the _Archangel_ and the Autobots for so long was shocking to say the least. Whether or not the Orb fleet believed her though, was another matter entirely.

* * *

At the Orb Union's government building, Uzumi had gathered the Orb government officials together as soon as they had received word of the battle that was going on, and sent the fleet out to guard the border. Sometime during the battle, Uzumi had convinced one of the ministers to put a stop to the live broadcast, and it was shortly afterwards that he had received word that someone aboard one of the vessels had claimed to be his daughter. Uzumi knew that Cagalli had snuck away to Heliopolis some time before it was destroyed, but he never suspected that she had ended up on the Earth Forces warship. In the case of the other ships, and what most had assumed to be a small unit of transforming mobile suits, Uzumi was not sure what to think of it, at least not until an aide approached him.

"Excuse me Lord Uzumi, sir," the aide told him. "There's a call for you."

"Whatever it is will have to wait," Uzumi told the aide.

"Sir, it's a call on line three, and they said they are calling from somewhere called Alpha I?"

Hearing that Uzumi instantly demanded the aide give him the phone and which he answered right away. _"Representative Athha, we have discovered something about one of the unknown vessels outside of your waters. Are you still receiving a visual on the battle,"_ an old, slightly grumpy sounding voice asked.

"Yes," Uzumi answered.

_"__Ask them to zoom in and enhance the visual on the hull of the ship flying alongside the Earth Forces vessel. Namely, the gold and red one."_

Uzumi then did as he was instructed, and as soon as they had done so, what the Orb ministers gasped at the image they saw, almost as though they recognized the image they were seeing. What they saw of the gold and red colored ship, was the image of an emblem that resembled a kind looking face that was colored red.

_Well how about that,_ Uzumi thought to himself. _So there were others out there._ He then quickly asked for instructions to be relayed to the Orb fleet.

* * *

During the time that Uzumi had received the call from Alpha I, Dearka and Skywarp had been able to land a crippling blow both to the _Archangel_ and _Omega II_ before being shot down by a combined effort between Mu, Kira, and Optimus. Sadly, they were not able to act fast enough.

"First and second engine were hit," Neumann reported. "Sealing all bulkheads on blocks forty eight to fifty five. Forward thrust is dropping. We're losing altitude."

Kira quickly used the Strike's thruster pack to fly up and try and drive away the Aegis, who was still firing on the ship, while Optimus flew alongside him to cross swords with Dreadwing. The two could only watch as the _Archangel_ and _Omega II_ crashed down in an emergency water landing in Orb waters. The next thing any of them knew, the Orb fleet had opened fire on the two ships and Kira and Optimus soon after as they made their way back to their respective vessels. Dreadwing and Athrun broke off pursuit of the two and tried to see if Orb was successful in sinking the two ships, but a moment later, a small fleet of surveillance drones flew in blocking both their views.

"We'll have to retreat for now and wait to see what Orb's official statement on this is," Athrun groaned.

"And am I to assume that we should believe whatever that statement reads," Dreadwing asked.

"That depends on what it says, but most likely no." With that said, the two then headed back to their ships as well.

* * *

"Now then," Uzumi stated as he stood up from his seat. "That was a bit of a charade but we really had no other choice. Is the official document ready?"

A moment later, a woman gave Uzumi what she called the second draft of the announcement for him to look over. After getting his approval, Uzumi left the statement to the man he asked to end the broadcast, stating he would take care of the two ships and Morgenroete. After silencing the ministers' mutterings about why it was a bad idea to allow the two ships into their territory and hide it from Z.A.F.T., Uzumi left the room, and raised the phone he was still holding back to his ear. He had put the other person on hold while he handled things in the meeting. "Well?"

_"__We've already dispatched someone to meet with you when you meet with the commanding officers of the Earth Forces vessel and the Autobot ship afterwards."_

"Understood." With that said and done, Uzumi hung up the phone and went to prepare for his meeting with the _Archangel_'s commanding officers and whoever was commanding the Autobot ship.

* * *

Aboard the Z.A.F.T. submarine carrier that the Zala team had been assigned, said team was in a meeting with the Decepticons joining via a holographic communication as usual to discuss Orb's official statement, or rather to argue with it.

"I can't believe they're actually telling us that the Legged ship has left Orb territory. That's their solution," Dearka asked rhetorically.

"They must think we're nothing more than sparklings," Skywarp agreed.

"You ask me, it's because we have a pair of raw commanders."

"Dearka," Nicol warned the blonde off.

"That's irrelevant," Athrun stated, getting everyone's attention. "But unfortunately you can't deny that this is Orb's official response, so you can complain all you want about how they're a bunch of liars, but it's not gonna change the situation that we're in."

"Say what," Yzak and Slipstream both shouted.

"Perhaps if you and your human copy remained silent long enough, Slipstream, Athrun would be able to actually finish," Dreadwing stated.

"Your friend's right chrome dome," a female voice stated, getting everyone's attention. They all looked towards the source and saw a young woman in a red Z.A.F.T. uniform with dark hair, and diamond green eyes standing in the doorway. "If we forced our way in then it would only turn into one big diplomatic mess, so obviously we can't do that unless you want to be the cause of that kind of trouble."

"And who the hell are you," Yzak demanded.

"Jaylen Westenfluss, reassigned from Jachin Due to the Zala team by Commander Le Creuset," the now identified Jaylen answered, saluting Athrun as she did. "I'm also the pilot of a new mobile suit that is a prototype for future Z.A.F.T. mass produced units and is the early stage of Decepticon-Z.A.F.T. engineering."

Athrun then accepted the small data pad that the girl had handed to him and looked over the specs. He saw that the machine seemed similar to the GINNs that were currently in use but without the wings and it had different armaments, such as a long range blaster rifle, a set of missile launchers on its back, a beam rifle, and a beam battle axe. "The Zaku Accelerant," Athrun read aloud.

Jaylen nodded. "Like I said it's the first and currently only one of its kind."

Athrun then smiled and exchanged a small handshake with the dark haired woman. "Welcome to the Zala team Miss Westenfluss."

"Thank you sir, and please call me Jaylen."

Athrun nodded and moved to introduce her to the Decepticons, but Jaylen simply waved him off saying there was no need and she had already read the briefing.

"Hey are you by any chance related to a Heine Westenfluss," Nicol asked.

"Yes, he's my brother. You know him," Jaylen asked.

"We were classmates."

Before any more conversation could continue, Yzak scoffed as he mocked, "Your analysis is impressively rational Athrun and Dreadwing. Oops, _Commander_ Zala and _Commander_ Dreadwing."

"Uh, I gave a part of it too you know," Jaylen reminded him.

"We know," Slipstream smirked, instantly giving Jaylen reason not to like her.

"Hold on a second, getting back on track here," Dearka interrupted before things got hairy. "Are you saying we'll have to accept their word and just leave?"

"That may be our only option at this time," Dreadwing replied, but Athrun had to disagree.

"We'll ask Carpentaria to apply some official pressure," the blue haired youth calmly implied. "But if there's no quick resolution, we'll sneak in. Does that meet with your approval?"

"You mean so that you can pin point the ships' locations," Knockout asked.

"Yes, because whatever the situation is our opponent here is a sovereign nation. We can't take any hasty action against it without evidence of some sort."

"Why can't we just force our way in," Breakdown asked. "We all know that the ships are there, and from what I've heard, your team has done so before."

"This is nothing like Heliopolis," Athrun coolly stated. "The differences being the size of their forces, and I'm sure I don't have to tell at least my team how advanced their military technology is. Officially, they're neutral but behind the scenes they are a cause of great concern to us."

Yzak smirked and stated, "I'll go along with it, but if it were up to me we'd be forcing our way in. Can't disagree with the son of Committee Chairman Zala, who also happens to have the approval of Lord Megatron, but sneaking in does sound fun too. Besides who knows, there's always the possibility that I'll finally get a chance to see the face of the Strike pilot and the mighty Optimus Prime of the Autobots."

Athrun looked at Yzak worriedly at that, but it went unnoticed by almost everyone but Dreadwing, Nicol, and Jaylen. Though Athrun knew they had to do this, he sincerely hoped that Yzak did not see the face of his old friend, Kira. Nicol then looked at Jaylen and asked, "Hey how did you even get here so fast anyways?"

"Oh the Decepticons allowed me to use their Ground Bridge," Jaylen answered, nonchalantly.

* * *

During the time the Z.A.F.T./Decepticon team was meeting, the _Archangel_ was brought into a secret underground port at Onogoro Island, with _Omega II_ being brought into a similar port in another area. While docked there, Ramius, Badgiruel, and La Flaga were meeting with Uzumi to discuss the situation involving what would happen with the _Archangel_ while it was being repaired. While they were away, Kira's friends all found themselves wondering if they would get a chance to see their parents, with the exception of Kira and Flay. Flay because she did not have anyone to see since both her parents were dead and Kira because he was not sure if he wanted to at the moment.

In the meeting that Uzumi held with the three highest ranking officers of the _Archangel_, Uzumi revealed that he was not all that certain if he made the right decision in allowing the two ships to not be sunk, and expressed his feelings on the matters involving Heliopolis, the children who had volunteered to serve on the _Archangel_, and the G-Weapons in general. Even so, he was more than happy to allow the _Archangel_ to receive any repairs it needed from Orb, but in exchange he asked for all of the Strike's current combat data and for the ship to loan Kira for technical cooperation with Morgenroete.

Naturally, Natarle was against the idea, but ended up being outvoted once more by both Mu and Murrue. Natarle tried to convince the two that they should just pay for the repairs, but had that idea shot down when reminded that if they did so that would not be the end of it. Murrue went on to point out that Orb was more than likely under tremendous pressure from Z.A.F.T. at the moment, and yet they still decided to protect them. Even though she understood this, Natarle was not letting that stop her from being her usual, snappish, military protocol driven self and made it no secret that she would make a point of bringing this whole case up when they arrived at Alaska.

"She's got a list right," Mu whispered, to which Uzumi and Murrue both gave a small smile.

"Now then," Uzumi said, having felt that the meeting concluded. "I believe it's time we all met with the captain the rather gargantuan vessel that arrived with you."

He then led the three outside to a white and blue sports car that was waiting for them. The fact they would be traveling in such a vehicle shocked the three Earth Forces soldiers, but they were certainly not going to complain. A few hours later, they arrived inside the massive hangar were _Omega II_ was currently docked, and the _Archangel_'s crew finally got a good look at just how much punishment the mighty Autobot ship had received from the previous battle. A number of the ship's guns were either damaged or practically destroyed, and there were a number of large tears in the hull. Though this was all they could see, there was no doubt in anyone's mind that the proud gold and red ship had suffered much more damage beyond that.

At that point they were all brought out of their musings as the car came to a stop, and they all climbed out to find that Optimus was already approaching them. "Captain Murrue Ramius, Commander Mu La Flaga, and Lieutenant Natarle Badgiruel. It is good to see you are all unharmed," the red and blue Autobot commander began. "And I take it you are the representative of Orb?"

"I am," Uzumi answered. "I am Representative Uzumi Nara Athha, and you are?"

"I am Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots."

"Not to mention the last Prime, former data archivist, and one of my best buds since before the war on Cybertron," an unknown voice suddenly exclaimed. Turning towards the source, the Earth Forces soldiers were all mildly shocked to see the sports car they had just traveled in transform into yet another Cybertronian, who they assumed was an Autobot. He was mostly white, with blue highlights, and had a black colored head with what looked like a blue visor for his eyes, and a beaming smile.

"Yo Prime," the Autobot shouted as he raised a fist to the bigger robot, to which Optimus responded with a fist bump. "Good to see your still kicking pal."

"It is good to see you as well, Jazz," Optimus replied.

"Friend of yours," Mu asked Uzumi and Optimus.

"Yes actually," Uzumi replied with a small smile. "Jazz here, actually showed up here in Orb a short while ago with about three others in tow. At first we made the mistake of assuming they were mobile suits of either Z.A.F.T. or the Earth Forces, but they quickly cleared things up for us."

"And ever since, we've been chilling here on Onogoro Island. Lord Uzumi here even set us up with a sweet crib as our new base," Jazz finished. "Optimus, everyone there is going to want to see you and whoever else you've got with ya."

Optimus nodded in reply at this and then turned to Uzumi. "Lord Uzumi Nara Athha, I would like to request that my Autobots and I be allowed to see the Autobot base you have allowed our allies to establish."

"Of course," Uzumi said. "I would not consider it very fair if I were to prevent you from reuniting with your friends who are also of your own kind."

"Then might I also ask for one other favor as well," Optimus asked. When he received a nod in reply, Optimus continued saying, "I would also like for individuals of the _Archangel_ crew and Miss Cagalli to see the base with us as well, if they would be interested."

Uzumi paused to consider this for a moment, and then finally answered, "I am sure that will be fine so long as they go directly there and back to the _Archangel_, at least for the moment, and that my daughter is home by ten."

Optimus nodded in acceptance and thanked Uzumi for this before radioing the other Autobots aboard _Omega II_, to let them know that they would need to pick up the individuals he wanted to bring along to the base with them.

* * *

A little while after night had fallen, Bumblebee, Arcee, Bulkhead, Hound, and Elita One departed for the coordinates of the Autobot base they had received from Optimus with Kira, Cagalli, Sai, Tolle, Murdoch, and Miriallia riding with them. Flay had blatantly stated that she, in her words "did not want to bother with the massive metal freaks' secret base" and Kuzzey decided to stay on the ship to try and help with the repairs to the _Archangel_. After traveling the streets for some time, they soon reached an out of the way area that most people did not normally travel to on Onogoro, which clearly had signs of being an old military base.

Kira then looked ahead to see that Bumblebee, who was leading the pack, was about to drive directly into the side of a cliff that was on the edge of said base, and he immediately slammed his foot on the brake pedal in an attempt to get Bumblebee to stop. He soon felt silly for doing so, as a moment later, the mountain side opened up to reveal a secret tunnel that led into a large room with a raised platform and massive computers in the center of the room.

Standing near one of the computers, was yet another Autobot that was colored red and white, and seemed to have a somewhat moody air about him like that of a grouchy old man. A moment later Optimus entered the room from a corridor on the other side with Jazz, Murrue, Mu, and Natarle alongside them. Following them was another pair of Autobots. One of them was a big, muscular Bot that was red and dark silver and the other was closer to somewhere between Bumblebee and Bulkhead's sizes with a white paint job that included a red v-shaped pattern on his chest, with a bit of green inside the v along with the Autobot symbol.

"Ugh, how many humans must we have in here anyways," the red and white one then asked as Bumblebee and the other newly arrived Autobots transformed.

"Well no mistaking that old, grouchy whining," Elita commented. "Been a while Hatchet."

"Elita, how many times have I told you NOT to call me Hatchet?! My name is Ratchet and you know that full well!"

"Yeah I know, and to answer your question at least once more apparently," Elita sniggered in reply, prompting the now identified Ratchet to just groan in annoyance.

"Hey not that I'm not honored by the fact that Optimus Prime himself is here, or that I'm not glad that we found more of the old crew, but could someone please tell me that there was a good reason for me to get up," the white Bot with the V-shaped pattern on his chest asked. His voice was instantly recognized by a certain dark green, wrecking ball wielding Autobot.

"Wheeljack," Bulkhead softly exclaimed in excitement. "That you ya old Con crusher?"

Wheeljack, as everyone believed him to be, looked towards Bulkhead and chuckled, "Well whadya know? Bulkhead, old buddy! Hope rolling with Prime hasn't softened you up or anything."

Bulkhead then ran over and pulled the slightly smaller Bot into a servo crushing hug as he happily exclaimed, "Jackie!"

"Hey easier there Bulk, before ya put more dents in me than the Cons."

The red and dark silver Bot then strode up to Bumblebee as he stated, "Well look what the scrapper dragged in. The little scout that could. Guess I shouldn't be surprised that you're tagging along with Prime considering how much a fan boy of him you are."

That got Bumblebee mad. **_"At least I'm not some old, out-of-date gear grinder unlike some Bots. Or should I say rusted gear grinder?"_**

"What did you just say, you little dopey-eyed brat?!"

**_"_****_Rusty trash compactor!"_**

"Okay it's on now kid!"

**_"_****_Bring it old timer!"_**

The next thing anyone knew, the two had each thrown a serious punch to the other's face that caused them both to end up lying on the floor. Thankfully all the humans in the room had made their way to safety on the raised platform that was out of the way. Kira and the others thought that this was going to be bad, but to their surprise the two got up off the floor laughing. "Ah, you've still got it Bee," the chuckling red Bot stated as he extended a hand to help the scout to his feet.

**_"_****_Right back at ya 'Hide,"_** Bumblebee replied, accepting said hand.

Optimus then coughed to get everyone's attention. "Everyone, for those of you who do not know, I would like to introduce the Autobots who have taken up residence in the Orb base that has been codenamed Alpha I. The Autobot Chief Medical Officer, Ratchet."

Said medic just grunted in reply. "The Autobot Wrecker legend, Wheeljack."

"Sup folks," Wheeljack asked.

"Our weapons specialist, Ironhide." Ironhide moved to pull the same joke that Hound had back when the humans first met him, but stopped as soon as Hound told him of the fact he already told that joke. "And finally, the Autobots' first lieutenant, Jazz."

"Yo how's it hanging dogs," Jazz asked. "So I gotta ask, which one of you is this Strike pilot kid I keep hearing about?"

All the humans just looked at him in surprise before Kira stepped forward saying, "Uh that would be me. I'm Kira Yamato."

Jazz smiled as he walked over to the platform and raised his fist for a fist bump as he stated, "Hey cool to meet ya little man. Gimme some love."

Kira smiled a bit as he chuckled and returned said fist bump. Cagalli just looked at her father in anger as the other humans introduced themselves to the new Autobots, until finally she could no longer hold it in. "And how long have you been keeping this covered up huh? Orb's now setting up a secret alien military force?"

"Cagalli," Uzumi scolded. "Jazz and the others had only arrived here shortly after the destruction of Heliopolis. They are not a part of Orb's military, and are simply being given asylum here."

Cagalli just huffed in disbelief at this, which led Wheeljack to say, "I think I'm gonna like this girl. She's got a personality worthy of a Wrecker."

"Well now that all of that's out of the way," Ratchet stated. "Optimus you should know that we've been picking up multiple signs of Decepticon activity from all across this planet. There's a chance that whatever they plan for the human's world is already in motion, but there is always something new coming up every day. We would move to investigate, but with the Ground Bridge still being…sporadic at best and considering how few of us there were until now there was not much we could do."

"Understood Ratchet," Optimus nodded. "Then we had best get started. Once you, Elita One, and whomever else you require to aid you have finished the necessary work on the Ground Bridge, make the repairs to _Omega II_ your next top priority. In the meantime, we will do what we can about these instances that you have been detecting until both the _Archangel_ and _Omega II_ are ready to deploy once more."

All the Autobots nodded in understanding of their orders, and then dispersed to see more of their new base and catch up with old friends, while the humans present all joined them and seeing what there was to see, Sai and Natarle being the only ones to stay on the raised platform so they could talk to Ratchet and see what they could learn from him and what they could do to help him out. Kira had departed a short while later with Optimus so that he could move the Strike to an underground facility at Morgenroete and get started on his work for them.

* * *

No one was present on the shore, save for what seemed to be a small group of fishermen and dockside workers, when five figures arose from the water onto the shore. Once all five were on shore the lead figure removed his oxygen mask and goggles with the others following suit revealing Athrun and the rest of the Zala team. "Welcome to the land of peace," one the men that had helped them come ashore said.

A moment later, a ground bridge had opened, and Knockout and Breakdown emerged from it. Being the only Decepticons with vehicle modes that could actually allow the Zala team to maintain their cover and search for evidence of the Legged Ship and the Autobot ship, it had been an obvious choice as to whom would be accompanying the Zala team while they were in Orb.

"That ID we've given you will get you into Area One of the factory," the man who greeted Athrun's team stated as he handed out the package containing the items Athrun's team would need. "But after that, there's a system in place that checks for specific personnel data. I wasn't able to get anything more detailed on such short notice, and don't overdo it okay? I don't want any fuss, because I'd rather let the beast keep on sleeping."

Athrun nodded in thanks to the man and then led the others up the cliff to where they needed to head. He then had Yzak and Dearka ride with Breakdown while he, Nicol, and Jaylen all climbed into Knockout so that they could sneak in more effectively. As they drove down to their destination, Knockout told them all over the radio, "You should all know that Lord Megatron has been informed of all this, and wanted me to tell you that sometimes one or more of you may be pulled from this assignment to assist in a Decepticon operation."

"Any reason for that," Jaylen asked, being the only one to ask the obvious question. "I would've thought you wouldn't want us lowly humans getting in the way of Decepticon missions."

"Normally we wouldn't, but Lord Megatron thinks that having some of Z.A.F.T.'s finest along for the ride would guarantee a higher chance of success on these missions, and for some reason he thinks that the Autobots will be making more active moves on Earth if they are now suddenly based here in Orb, even if only temporarily or otherwise."

"I guess that makes sense," Nicol said. "I mean you guys have only been helping us out so far, so this would be like a small way to return the favor by helping you."

"Well when you put it that way, actually yes," Knockout agreed in a satisfied tone. "You catch on quick kiddo."

Nicol just smiled a little as he chuckled at Knockout's compliment, and then noticed Athrun seemed to only nod as an indication that he heard the red, land based Decepticon. "Hey Athrun, you okay," Nicol asked.

"Yeah I'm fine," Athrun replied, trying to sound convincing, though he had a feeling he did not succeed. He was still thinking about Cagalli, and how he had also heard her admit to the Orb forces earlier that she was the princesses of Orb. He could barely believe that the fiery, blonde girl he met on that island was actually the daughter of Lord Uzumi, and yet for some reason he felt like there was something about that whole thing that just made him more interested in her. Whatever the case may have been, Athrun knew one thing for certain. This mission in Orb was definitely going to be considered as something that was more than meets the eye.

* * *

**_AN: Okay so, the old Team Prime of Transformers Prime is now all together, including Wheeljack, and they've even got Jazz and Ironhide to add to the extra additions that are already in there. Now for clearing some stuff up. Jaylen Westenfluss, yes she is based off of Heine from Gundam SEED Destiny. I always really liked that guy, he seemed pretty cool. I mean he was easy going, easy to talk to, all about equality among everyone and not setting boundaries by having people address him by his rank instead of his first name, wanted people to refer to him on a first name basis, and yet he was also a fierce fighter when he got going, so it seemed really unfair that he got killed off after only like, what three episodes. Anyways, I'm not saying anything about what I plan to do with his character when he appears in the sequel to this story, but I will say that I wanted a character kind of like that in this one so, hello Jaylen. As for the Zaku Accelerant, I figured that with the Decepticons around, Z.A.F.T. would be able to make a prototype for the mass produced mobile suit of Gundam SEED Destiny a little early. If you have trouble picturing it, just think of the Z.A.F.T. Zakus with armaments from Lunamaria, Rey, and Yzak's Zakus in SEED Destiny. Another reason why I added her in is because, well I'd tell you now but I'm sure you can figure it out, and if you do, please don't say anything and give it away to everyone. Now then, preview time!..._**

**_Kira's work for Morgenroete has begun to seem like something he is using to hide himself away from others, a fact that does not go unnoticed by Erica Simmons, the chief engineer of Morgenroete. When the Autobots discover a strange reading, Optimus and Ironhide roll out to investigate with Kira and Erica along for the ride. What dangers will the two pairs face, and will they find that leads them to discover something that the Autobots believed to be merely legend? Next time on Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Prime…_****Chapter 12: The Engineers, the Warriors, and the Sword****_…_****_slash through to the truth Optimus!_**

**_Read, review, and vote for the next team please. I'll see you all next time!_**


	12. 12:The Engineer the Warrior andthe Sword

_**AN: I can't believe it! I mean how long has it been since I last did a back-to-back posting for this or any story? Anyhow, I had gotten the idea of this so ingrained into my head that I just had to get it down on paper, so to speak, as soon as possible. And here to help us celebrate its posting are half of the heroic team for today's action packed adventure, Erica Simmons and Ironhide!**_

_**[Audience applause]**_

_**Erica: Thanks for having us here**_

_**Ironhide: You do know that we should both be doing something important right?**_

_**AN: I know but still we've got plenty of time before the major chapters need to get out there.**_

_**Erica: You know you really seem to want to give me a bit more of a role in this than I got in the Gundam SEED anime.**_

_**AN: Hey what can I say? Girl like you with tech skills like the ones you've got is bound to play a bigger part in the story when the Autobots are involved.**_

_**Erica: Fair enough. So shall we get started.**_

_**AN: Let's. Oh and be sure to vote for the second team you want to see in action in the Orb Missions Arc. The poll is on my profile page. Now then, Ironhide, if you'd please.**_

_**Ironhide: Thought you'd never ask. lyokoMARVELanime owns nothing from either of the Gundam or Transformers franchises.**_

* * *

**Chapter 12: The Engineers, the Warriors, and the Sword**

"This country is starting to get on my nerves, that's for sure," Yzak growled from where he was standing, as he glared at Athrun.

"We know silver scar," Jaylen sighed. Jaylen had taken to calling Yzak that since they had arrived in Orb and showed no signs of ceasing to call him by the nickname.

"Well it's not like we expected them to leave it in the harbor for everyone to see," Dearka commented from the bench that he and Nicol were sitting on. They were of course referring to their progress to locate the _Archangel_, or lack thereof. They had been in the country for a day now and still had no luck finding it. At that point the Zala team was taking a break while Breakdown and Knockout sat parked on the side of the curb.

"Well really, how hard is it to hide a pair of ships like those," Knockout asked rhetorically, contributing to the conversation. "I mean sure the Autobot ship is no Arc, but it is still larger than some of the personal ships like that of Ultra Magnus."

"Still what if the ships actually did leave like they had told us," Breakdown asked, even though he was annoyed by the thought. "What then?"

"We need confirmation," Athrun replied. "If it's here, then it's here, and if it's not, it's not."

Everyone just groaned in unison at that, which prompted Athrun to continue his view on the matter, "Because of the naval base in Morgenroete the area by the water has a higher level of security, so we've gotta find a way in there so we can do a real search."

"Yeah we know that Athrun," Yzak snorted. "But how are we supposed to do that? Ground Bridge in there?"

"Right because no one will notice that," Knockout retorted sarcastically.

Athrun just sighed and would have continued had Knockout's comm. link not gone off. "Knockout here," the red Decepticon answered. A moment's pause later and he stated, "Athrun Zala, Lord Megatron wishes for your's and Jaylen Westenfluss's assistance in a Decepticon matter of the utmost importance."

Athrun stared at the red sports car for a minute before asking if he could speak with Megatron himself, to which he received the okay. Athrun then tapped the device that he had in his ear, and it extended into a small headset that acted as Athrun's own comm. device. "Lord Megatron this is Athrun Zala."

_"__Ah yes Athrun,"_ the warlord's voice replied. _"Is there something you wish to speak with me about concerning my request for your assistance?"_

"Actually yes. I'm sure you're aware of our team's current situation in regards to our mission to bring down the Legged Ship and the Autobot ship, so why do you need me and Jaylen Westenfluss for a Decepticon mission."

_"__Rest assured Athrun, I did not want to pull you from your current assignment, but I would not do so unless absolutely necessary, as I am sure Knockout and Breakdown have already informed you. This is one mission that falls into that category. I will explain the full details to you, Jaylen Westenfluss, and Dreadwing when you all arrive here."_

"Wait, did you say 'when we arrive here'," Athrun asked. "Are you saying that you will be taking part in this as well?" That got everyone's attention, as the entire Zala team had adopted looks of shock at the idea of Athrun and their newest addition working with Megatron of the Decepticons himself.

_"__Indeed I will be. Before you leave though, make sure you take careful consideration into who you will have in charge during your absence,"_ Megatron confirmed.

"Understood Lord Megatron. We will see you soon," Athrun responded.

_"__Excellent. I shall have Soundwave send a Ground Bridge to transport you to your vessel's hanger bay in order to retrieve your respective machines before he sends you to us."_

Athrun confirmed that he understood that as well and cut the communications. He then turned to his team and thought carefully about whom to leave in charge, while said team was discussing the fact that Athrun would be working with Megatron on an actual assignment.

"In all the time his forces have been allied with us, I don't think Megatron's ever actually gone out on a mission himself," Dearka commented.

"Yeah not to mention with anyone on Z.A.F.T. either," Nicol agreed. "This must be pretty important."

"I'm suddenly not sure if I should feel jealous or excited for you Athrun," Yzak admitted. "But that still leaves the whole matter of the three of us finding the Legged Ship while you and Jaylen are away."

"You saying you think you can't handle it," Jaylen taunted with a smirk.

"No way, the three of us were able to secure three of the Earth Forces mobile suits from Heliopolis pretty easily on our own without Athrun so this shouldn't be too hard."

Athrun smiled at that as he walked over and placed a hand on Yzak's shoulder, getting the silver haired man's attention as he stated, "In that case, I'll be leaving you in charge while we're on this assignment Yzak."

Now that shocked Yzak, as he figured Athrun might have left Nicol in charge as he knew Athrun thought Nicol was the most levelheaded of the three who were remaining. After getting over his shock he nodded and Athrun then told him, "Just remember to stick to the plan and don't attract attention and you guys should be fine okay?"

Yzak then smirked in reply, "Yes sir, Commander Zala."

Athrun and Jaylen then bade the others goodbye before moving to an out of the way alleyway where they could not be seen and requested the Ground Bridge. Two trips through the portals later, and the Aegis, Dreadwing, and the violet and indigo colored form of the Zaku Accelerant were soon flying out over a small valley in a mountain range up to the large, imposing form of Megatron himself.

Megatron smirked as he greeted them and began walking towards a mountain side as he briefed them. As the Z.A.F.T. pilots looked around, they noticed that the Decepticons had a number of drones and Z.A.F.T. mobile suits such as the DINNs around the area, a fact Megatron seemed to simply shrug off as he said, "Our forces were investigating a strange energy reading that we originally believed to be the tell-tale signs of a new energon mining sight. Though it became clear that was not the case when they arrived and their scanners detected no energon what-so-ever."

"So then what was it," Jaylen asked finally diverting her attention forward after getting a good look at how obvious it was that Megatron had decided to call in on the shows of good will he had given Z.A.F.T.

Megatron smirked in reply. "See for yourselves."

He then reached the mountain face as the drones moved aside revealing what looked like an extravagant sword imbedded in the mountain. To Athrun and Jaylen, all they saw was an impressive sword that seemed to have an interesting handle, but to Dreadwing it was cause for gaining a look of surprise. "Master," Dreadwing gasped. "Is that…?"

"Indeed it is Dreadwing," Megatron confirmed. "Something that in the Autobots' hands could very well mean our darkest hour."

Now that had Athrun's attention. What was it about this sword that had Megatron believing that it would be that much trouble if the Autobots got their hands on it? It was a question that he had to pose to Megatron, which the large silver Decepticon leader was more than happy to elaborate on as he answered, "This sword is that of Prima Prime himself, the first of all Transformers and leader of the Thirteen Original Primes. The blade that in the hands of a Prime could unleash power unlike anything anyone could ever match. This is…the Star Saber."

Athrun and Jaylen both gasped in shock at that just as Dreadwing had. Athrun then got serious and observed, "If that is the case, then we should remove it from the mountain side as soon as possible."

"Agreed," Dreadwing replied. He then wondered something. "Why has that not been done already, and why all these forces?"

"Because the excavation team has had no success in removing the blade from the mountain and we need the additional forces in case Prime and his Autobots show up and attempt to claim the Star Saber themselves."

"Have you tried to just pull it out yet," Jaylen asked like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Megatron looked at her before deciding to demonstrate why that would not work as he walked up to the sword to grasp its handle. Once he did, he pulled with all of his might, but no matter how hard he pulled and tugged on the handle, the sword would not budge. He then released it and turned to Jaylen as he stated, "As you can see, it appears that something has been done to the sword so that only a Prime can remove it from the mountain. That is why we must find an alternate method of removing it."

"I see," Jaylen answered as she thought about something. "It's just like the sword in the stone."

Dreadwing and Megatron both looked at her in confusion, and if the drones could express emotion as well, they would be doing the same thing. The two humans in the small huddle of this otherwise large gathering returned the looks with their own incredulous looks as Athrun asked, "You know the sword in the stone? From the legend of King Arthur?"

"Do you really think we have concerned ourselves with learning of your human legends Athrun Zala," Dreadwing deadpanned.

Jaylen then explained, "The legend says that many years ago during the medieval times, after Camelot's king had passed away a sword appeared before the citizens, embedded in a large stone. On the sword's blade near the hilt, was a transcribing that said that whoever was able to pull the sword from the stone, would be deemed worthy enough to be the new king. Many people tried to pull the sword from the stone for years, but none were successful until a young boy named Arthur came and was finally able to pull the sword free from the stone with one pull."

Megatron just hummed in reply as he commented, "A very amusing tale, and I can certainly see the similarities between our current situation and that legend. Let us hope however, that we can remove this sword in the stone before its King Arthur arrives to do so himself."

* * *

Inside the underground factory on Onogoro Island, Morgenroete's Senior Engineer, Erica Simmons was hard at work looking over the statistics of the support OS that Kira Yamato had been working on for the mobile suits that would serve as Orb's protectors, the M1 Astrays. As she looked through it, she found herself thinking back to the other day when she was recording some of her findings in a log entry that was geared specifically towards the data recovered from the Strike and the _Archangel_'s battles, and thought once again of the theory known as the Superior Evolutionary Element Destined factor, or SEED factor for short, and found herself wondering if it was possible that Kira possessed the SEED factor himself. Given what she had seen in the reports on the young Coordinator, Erica found it to be highly unlikely to be otherwise, but she was not an expert on the subject and thought it would be best to leave it alone for the moment.

What she was more interested in at the moment though, was the subject of their alien visitors from planet Cybertron. Ever since Jazz and his band of merry Bots arrived in Orb, Erica had enjoyed the privilege of discussing some technical work with them, mainly Ratchet and occasionally Wheeljack, in order to see what they could do in terms of putting something together using both Autobot and Orb technology. The closest they had gone so far, however, was some of the technology used in the Autobot base. Up until now, Erica was actually okay with what she had learned of the Autobots, but with the arrival of the _Omega II_ in Orb, she had found herself getting a bit more curious about the large beings that were easily robots in disguise. She was determined to learn more about them, but first she needed to at least meet with them, and given that Ratchet had normally been against her being around the Autobot base for long, or even accepting her help with some of the systems in Alpha I, she doubted it would happen anytime soon.

That was about to change when she noticed that Morgenroete's temporary recruit was having a discussion with Orb's blonde princess, and it seemed that Cagalli was getting to be frustrated with Kira about something, to put it mildly.

"I'm serious Kira," Cagalli scolded as Erica walked over. "You seem like you've been working down here nonstop. Have you at least taken some time to sleep, or even eat something?"

"Yeah I have gotten some sleep, and I did get a small snack a short while ago as you well know," Kira admitted. Even though he did not want to admit it, Kira knew Cagalli was right in the fact he had not taken a proper break since he started working in the large facility, but he wanted to get his work done as quickly as possible.

"You know full well what I meant when I asked if you'd had something to eat Kira," Cagalli snapped.

"She has a point you know," Erica stated, making her presence known to the two. "You really shouldn't spend so much time down here. If you don't take a break sometimes there's a chance that even you might slip up and make a mistake that could cause you to start your work all over again."

Kira sighed seeing that now he was getting outvoted by the two women. That's when Cagalli perked up, seeming like she had spotted a chance for something. "Say Kira," she asked, getting his attention. "All your friends have been visiting the Autobot base for a while now. In fact some of them are there right now, and I was about to go down there myself. I heard Bulkhead mention something about telling some old war stories from his days back on Cybertron. If you want you could come too."

"Thanks but…" Kira started to say, but he was cut off when Erica placed a hand on his shoulder.

"You know that sounds like a great idea," Erica stated happily. "In fact I was just about to take a break myself so why don't we all go down there?"

It was now clearly obvious to Kira that there was no way he was going to be able to say no, so he just sighed and agreed to go along with them. The three then walked outside where the familiar sight of Bumblebee and Arcee were waiting for them, both in their respective vehicle modes. Cagalli half ran over to Arcee as she climbed aboard the midnight blue motorcycle Autobot, placing a helmet on her head as soon as she did and then allowed Arcee to race off to the Autobot base. Kira and Erica had soon climbed into Bumblebee to follow after the two girls, at which point Kira had to ask if Bumblebee was sent by Optimus to get him.

**_"_****_Actually Optimus all but insisted that one of the Bots try to help Cagalli find a way to get you to come to the base with us seeing as you seemed to have been working nonstop lately,"_** the scout admitted.

"Seriously, you guys too," Kira moaned. Erica did not understand what Bumblebee had said, but she could get a pretty good guess from Kira's response. She then saw Kira give a small smirk as he then asked, "So I guess you volunteered and then convinced your girlfriend to help you out with getting me as backup huh?"

**_"_****_Yeah pretty mu-HEY WAIT A MINUTE!"_** Bumblebee buzzed indignantly. **_"Seriously, how many slagging times do I have to say it?! Arcee is NOT my girlfriend!"_**

"I never said anything about Arcee Bee," Kira replied in a smooth, knowing tone.

**_"_****_You didn't have to! Oh Primus why does everyone think that we're an item or whatever the human saying is?! We are just good friends!"_**

Kira just chuckled at his friend's expense, which Erica soon joined in on, the latter having a pretty good idea what Bumblebee was saying based on Kira's reactions and responses to the scout.

* * *

In almost no time at all, the two Autobots pulled into Autobot headquarters with their three human passengers, and then transformed as soon as Kira, Cagalli, and Erica had gotten off of their respective rides. They could already hear Bulkhead telling one of his stories in an excited tone to Kira's friends and the _Archangel_'s command staff who were all gathered around near the former Wrecker and his old pal Wheeljack.

"So there we were," Bulkhead recalled. "No communications, low on energon, and surrounded by Cons. So what does Wheeljack do?" Everyone looked on in excitement as Bulkhead paused in his story, eager to know what happened. Bulkhead chuckled in excitement as he called out, "Tell 'em Jackie."

"Heh, what I do best," Wheeljack stated confidently.

Bulkhead chuckled again as he told them, "He chucks his only grenade into the primary heat exchanger!"

"That's crazy," Natarle shouted. "Isn't that against some sort of regulation or something?"

"If it is, nobody ever told me," Wheeljack joked. "Besides, it seemed like a good idea at the time, and it still does."

"And the joint went supernova," Bulkhead finished in excitement.

"Whoa," Mu whistled.

"Awesome," Tolle added, and soon enough every other human was adding their own words, or word, of amazement at that.

"And there it is," Bulkhead finished at last. "Jackie's signature. One grenade, one shot."

"And it's always worked," Sai asked eagerly.

"Eh there've been a couple of…instances that were due to unfortunate luck, but yeah for the most part," Wheeljack admitted sheepishly.

"Still sounds pretty amazing if you ask me," Kira commented, making him and the other new arrivals known to the others.

"Kira," Miriallia exclaimed happily as she ran over to give him a quick, friendly hug. "We were all beginning to think you weren't ever going to come here."

"Yeah man," Tolle agreed as he and Kira exchanged a quick fist bump. "You've gotta hear some of the stories Bulkhead has told us."

"I actually just caught the last part of that last one," Kira admitted. "Really sounds like a blast."

Wheeljack and Bulkhead both let out a good laugh at Kira's comment, and Kira merely raised an eyebrow before he realized he had unintentionally made a small joke and found himself laughing along with them.

"Hey Jackie, you gotta tell them about the battle of Dark Mount Pass," Bulkhead exclaimed.

"Nah Bulk, you tell 'em," Wheeljack waved casually. "You'd tell it way better than I would."

"You can't be serious."

"Yeah you're right I'm not," Wheeljack joked, getting both of the two to laugh again before Wheeljack started telling the tale. "The Wreckers were trapped between a Decepticon patrol and a smelting pit. Cons were vicious, bearing down on us with everything they had. That wasn't gonna stop us though, so we engaged the enemy and left 'em for scrap. Then I made us a way out using their backsides as stepping stones to cross the molten metal."

"You make it sound like Bulkhead didn't do anything," Cagalli commented.

"That's 'cause I didn't. Kinda hard to do something when you aren't even there," Bulkhead explained. "I had already transferred over to Team Prime by the time they had gone on that mission and I heard about it from Jackie after he went through it."

The little party would have gone on had Ratchet's computer had not suddenly started beeping in alarm. "Optimus, you may want to see this," Ratchet called out to Optimus who was just entering the room with Ironhide.

"What is it Ratchet," the last Prime asked.

"Systems are picking up a large energy reading in this area here," Ratchet explained as he indicated said area on his screens. "But I can't identify what it is. All I can tell you is that it's not an energon source."

"You sure about that," Ironhide asked.

"Positive. Further scans indicate that the readings are not the same as you would expect from energon mines."

"You think the Decepticons know about it," Mu asked as he and the other humans and Bots walked over.

"Hard to say seeing as we can only detect Decepticon signals when they are actively moving like when they are in a mining operation or a battle, or if they're not in small groups like if there's only one or two of them. Our sensors also can't track their Ground Bridge either, but we are definitely picking up Decepticon readings in the area."

"And there's a lot of 'em if I'm reading that right," Ironhide commented.

"Elita One, Hound, and Jazz are all currently working on the _Omega II_'s repairs so we're all that's available Optimus," Ratchet reported.

"Understood," Optimus said. "But I have a hunch we will not be needing that many for this." He then paused as he considered how to proceed, stopping only for a moment to look in Kira's direction before finally making his decision. "Ratchet, first open a Ground Bridge to the Morgenroete factory so that our friend Kira Yamato may collect the Strike. Once that has been done, Ironhide and I shall traverse a Ground Bridge to the coordinates of the energy reading, with Kira joining us in the Strike."

"Hold on a minute," Natarle interjected. "The Strike is an Earth Forces mobile suit not some random gadget that you can just use whenever you feel like it."

"I understand your reluctance in allowing Kira to pilot the Strike into this situation, but given the circumstances I believe it will be the most beneficial to have his aide if he wishes to provide it."

Everyone looked to Kira, who had already adopted a serious look and nodded to say that he was in. As soon as the Ground Bridge was opened, Kira went through and then reappeared a moment later piloting the Strike into the base. Nobody needed to look in her direction to know that Natarle had a disapproving look on her face and was silently fuming to herself. Mu and Murrue both knew that she was more than likely going to be adding this to her list of things to note in her report when they reached Alaska.

"So that's the infamous Strike huh," Wheeljack asked. "I hope it looks better in action with that Phase Shift armor of its activated."

"Hold on a moment," Erica called out as Optimus and Ironhide moved to gather their weapons before heading o the Ground Bridge themselves along with Kira. "I'm coming with you."

"I would not advise that Miss Erica," Optimus stated.

"I'm not asking for permission. Right now, the Strike is under my facility's care so I think it would be best if I came along just in case, and besides you never know if you need an engineer's help."

"She has a point Prime," Ironhide conceded. "And she did help us get this base operational."

Optimus finally nodded and agreed so long as Erica remained in the Strike's cockpit unless absolutely necessary. As Erica climbed aboard the Strike, Optimus and Ironhide gathered up their weapons, Optimus's being an old favorite of his from the early days of the war, the Ion Blaster, and Ironhide's being a Riot Cannon, a downgraded version of the Fusion Cannon Megatron used. Everyone also noticed that Kira had elected to equip the Strike with the Aile Striker pack before arriving at the Autobot base and figured that it was Kira's way of being prepared. Once all three were ready, they all raced through the Ground Bridge and disappeared from the base.

"Be careful you guys," Cagalli whispered. A sentiment that was shared by everyone in the room, especially in the case of Kira's friends.

* * *

A moment after the three heroes had disappeared from the Autobot base in Orb, a Ground Bridge portal appeared a short distance away from where the Decepticons and Z.A.F.T. had gathered, and Optimus, Ironhide, and the Strike had jumped out ready for action. When they saw no one around, they quickly but quietly moved over to a cliff side overlooking the work that the two forces were doing.

Upon seeing what was going on, Kira gasped when he saw a familiar form. "The Aegis is here," Kira whispered over the comm. link.

Optimus and Ironhide looked and confirmed what Kira saw. "If that's one of the G-Weapons stolen from Morgenroete why isn't its Phase Shift armor activated," Ironhide asked.

"Perhaps the pilot is attempting to conserve energy for when he needs it most," Optimus speculated.

"That would make sense," Erica agreed. "The Phase Shift armor is really just a function that amplifies the suits capabilities and resistance to certain armaments, so the suit can function just as easily without it activated. The only difference is that it's more vulnerable."

Kira then continued looking, and saw an unfamiliar Z.A.F.T. mobile suit was with the Aegis and figured it was a new Z.A.F.T. model. Along with the two Z.A.F.T. mobile suits, Kira noticed that a number of DINNs were also present along with Decepticon drones and the familiar form of Dreadwing, but there was one thing there that he did not recognize, although he could tell that it was another Transformer so he assumed that it was a Decepticon. He then asked, "Hey Optimus, Ironhide? Who's that with the Aegis and the unknown mobile suit? The big, silver Con with a cannon on his arm."

The two Autobots froze for a moment at Kira's description of who he was asking about, but shook it off before looking where Kira had directed their attention. That was when Ironhide snarled, "What the slag is _he_ doing here?"

Optimus's own expression became one of anger as he glared down at the large, silver, cannon wielding Con and growled, "Megatron."

Kira gasped in shock at what Optimus had said and looked back to the now identified Decepticon leader. _So __**that's**__ Megatron?! The leader of the Decepticons, and Optimus's former friend!_ Erica had also heard about the Decepticon warlord and her thoughts were the same as Kira's, but something had her wondering why he was here now, and what were all these forces doing? That was when she noticed something that the others had not yet discovered. "Hey what's that in the mountain," she called out.

That got all three of the men's attention. Kira squinted for a moment and just barely made out what appeared to be a sword handle as a Decepticon drill backed away from the mountain so that they could all see better. Optimus and Ironhide saw it too and both gasped in shock, "By Primus!"

Optimus then pulled out his Ion Blaster, and readied it for battle as he proclaimed, "We cannot allow Megatron to get his hands on that sword!" He then charged, firing as he went, and he shouted out, "Autobots attack!"

Ironhide was soon right behind him, firing his Riot Cannon at the Decepticon drones and making sure the blast did not cause too much harm to any Z.A.F.T. machines that were in the blast radius beyond disabling said suits. Megatron looked in their direction and growled as he shouted out orders to his forces to stop the Autobots. Dreadwing was soon charging in with the Aegis and the Zaku close behind him. Athrun was soon right on top of Ironhide, his mobile suit now fully powered up, and about to fire at the red and silver Autobot when he himself was fired upon. Athrun looked towards the source and saw that the Strike was flying towards him, firing its beam rifle before it holstered the weapon and pulled out its beam saber and the two were soon engaged in close combat.

Ironhide would have moved to help Kira, but was suddenly attacked by the Zaku as Jaylen fired the machine's long range rifle, and followed up by firing the missile launchers on its back. Ironhide quickly took cover as he returned fire with his default blasters, which were much like Cliffjumper's. Seeing that her opponent had opted to hide for the moment, Jaylen switched to back up Athrun as he tangled with the Strike, whipping out the Zaku's battle axe and powering up its beams as she went. Kira was able to both parry Athrun's beam saber while using the Strike's shield to block the Zaku's axe before pushing the latter away and charging at the female Z.A.F.T. pilot.

Meanwhile, the leaders of the two Transformer factions were facing off once again in another battle in their long list of face offs. Megatron had fired his Fusion Cannon multiple times striking the ground near Optimus along with some of the projectiles that were fired from Optimus's Ion Blaster, to which Optimus did the same with his weapon until finally the two were close enough to one and other that they both swung and collided fists with each other. Optimus eventually overpowered his former friend by delivering a hard kick to Megatron's side, which caused him to stumble for a moment and allowed Optimus a chance to slam his fist into Megatron's head sending the Decepticon warlord into the ground. Optimus then switched his free hand into his default sword and moved to strike at Megatron, only to have his blade parried by Megatron's own sword as the Decepticon leader forced Prime off of him. "It seems that you and I are just destined to continue our battle despite what events had transpired aboard the _Arc_ Optimus, but I assure you, this is one battle that I will not lose!"

"That remains to be seen Megatron," Optimus retorted, and with that the two charged once more and engaged in a fierce battle unlike anything any other Cybertronian could easily match.

During that time, Kira had been able to fend off Athrun and Jaylen for a moment by slicing Jaylen's long range rifle in half with his beam saber and kicking her right into the Aegis while she was off guard. As Kira flew to try and take down some of the Z.A.F.T. mobile suits, Erica looked to see that Ironhide was behind cover trying to work with something, but having little success. When she saw that he was getting so frustrated that he threw one of his tools aside before firing a few shots off in Dreadwing's direction, she felt she had to do something to help him. Then she saw Ironhide receive a serious hit to his arm from Dreadwing and knew she had to help. Thinking quickly, Erica tapped Kira's arm, getting his attention for a moment and half ordered him, "Get me over to Ironhide now!"

Kira would have protested, but he was soon being fired upon by the Aegis, Dreadwing, and a number of Z.A.F.T. mobile suits and Decepticon drones, and felt that there was no time to argue. Kira then hollered out over his communicator, "Optimus, I need some covering fire!"

Optimus nodded in the Strike's direction, and slugged Megatron away before firing off a number of rounds from his Ion Blaster using up the last of the ammo in his weapon as he did. Thankfully it was enough as the forces bearing down on the Strike quickly dispersed to avoid being hit by Optimus, giving Kira the time he needed to fly the Strike close to Ironhide and let Erica off so that she could run over to help him.

When Ironhide saw that the human woman had left the safety of the Strike he was ready to scold her on her recklessness until she shouted out, "What are you trying to do?"

Seeing that he had no other option, Ironhide stated, "I'm trying to get this thing working so that we have more of a fighting chance here, but nothing I've tried has worked and now I can't work at all seeing as I'm now short an arm."

Erica looked at the device, and saw that it looked like a small staff of some kind. She assumed that it somehow extended into something much more impressive and then turned to Ironhide and asked, "How can I help?"

* * *

Elsewhere on the battlefield, Dreadwing had flown out of everyone's notice and saw that his ship that Megatron had granted him, the _Havoc_, was now in position over the mountain and had tow cables attached to the part that the Star Saber was imbedded in. "Lord Megatron, they are ready," Dreadwing reported over his radio.

"Excellent Dreadwing," Megatron replied as he punched Optimus back. "_Havoc_, do it."

_"__Yes Lord Megatron,"_ Thundercracker's voice replied. Now the Seeker siblings had not joined in the battle themselves because they needed to be aboard the _Havoc_ for this specific reason. That reason being revealed as the fired weapons at the mountain separating the section the legendary sword was trapped in and then firing its thrusters at maximum, garnering everyone's notice.

"The mountain," Jaylen exclaimed in shock.

"Are they really trying to lift it out with the _Havoc_," Athrun asked. His lack of attention proving to be a mistake as he received a hard hit from the Strike that knocked him away. Though Athrun was not the only one who was put at a disadvantage due to a lack of attention, as Optimus to was now pinned down by Megatron. The Decepticon raised his battle mace high above his head, ready to finish the Prime once and for all as he stated, "It's over Prime."

"NO! I WON'T LET YOU," came a loud shout which caught Megatron off guard. The next thing he knew, the Strike had slammed its shield into Megatron and sent him crashing away from Optimus.

Megatron snarled at what was now his new opponent before he lightly chuckled, "Ah the infamous Earth Forces mobile suit, X105-Strike. Let us see if you are as mighty as the reports have led others to believe."

With that the two charge at one and other, clashing beam saber with battle mace as they did until finally the two locked weapons. At that moment, Megatron took a moment to say, "From the reports I've read of you and your mobile suit pilot, I've come to believe that you are no mere Natural, but they all seem to imply that you are invincible. I wonder if that is true though."

"Why don't you come and find out," Kira shouted. The voice of the young Coordinator was heard by Megatron and had caught him off guard for a moment, a moment that Kira used to push back against his opponent, causing Megatron to stumble. Kira then followed up by having the Strike jump and deliver a hard kick that sent Megatron away.

Megatron regained his composure as he chuckled at his new revelation. "So the mysterious pilot of the Strike is nothing more than a mere Earth child. How interesting," Megatron coolly stated. "You should best start praying that I never see your face boy, as I never forget a face. Ever."

Megatron then charged once more as he swung his battle mace at Kira, which was soon blocked by the Strike's shield. Kira then tried to hit Megatron with the Strike's beam saber but Megatron side stepped a moment later, and slammed his fist into the Strike's head causing the suit to stumble and the pilot to get jostled about in his seat. Megatron then took this time to check on Optimus, but saw that the Autobot leader seemed to have vanished. Angered by the fact he had lost track of his hated enemy because of this human brat, Megatron extended his sword from his cannon arm and charged at Kira swinging both his mace and sword until the former had landed a hit on the Strike that sent it into the side of the mountain behind it.

Seeing that he was about to be hit by both of the Decepticon warlord's weapons, Kira quickly rolled the Strike out of the way before both weapons could hit. Megatron would have moved to strike again, but was halted by a call from Jaylen. "Lord Megatron, Athrun! Look, up on the mountain!"

The two turned to see that racing up the mountain side towards the mountain section that was being lifted away, was the unmistakable red and blue vehicle mode of Optimus Prime. "Dreadwing stop him," Megatron shouted, forgetting the Strike for a moment. A moment Kira tried to capitalize on as he charged in with his beam saber, only to be tackled by the Aegis in its mobile armor mode.

"Athrun get off of me," Kira demanded.

"Sorry Kira, but I can't let you do that, and don't think I forgot what you and I said the last time we saw each other," Athrun replied. "You said you would show no mercy, so then what are you waiting on? I could tell you've improved Kira, so show me just how much you have!"

Kira growled and then granted Athrun his request as he fired the Strike's thrusters, sending them both into the air. The Strike then grabbed one of the Aegis's legs that it was using to hold onto the white and blue mobile suit and tore it off. With one of the legs now torn off his mobile suit, Athrun soon lost his grip on the Strike and switched back to mobile suit mode, which was now missing an arm.

During that time, Dreadwing had landed in Optimus path and was proving to be more of a problem for Optimus than he could handle. Optimus made the mistake of glancing towards the Star Saber hilt that was being lifted away with the mountain and then found he was pinned underneath Dreadwing's foot. As Dreadwing began to raise his sword to end the Autobot leader's life, a shout from Ironhide grabbed his attention. "Prime," Ironhide had cried out. "I think you might need this!"

As soon as he had said that, Ironhide moved to toss the staff he had been working on, which Erica was proud to say that she had finished working on and had been able to get working. Dreadwing tried blasting the two, and while his shots did not hit either one he was able to throw off Ironhide's throw, sending the staff hurtling through the air. It seemed that it would not reach its intended target until suddenly, a grey and white hand grasped it. Gasping in shock, Dreadwing could do nothing but look on as the Strike spun around in midair and gave the staff a hard toss to its originally intended target, just before it had to use its shield to block a missile barrage form the Zaku and parry the Aegis's follow up beam saber attack.

Dreadwing tried to work fast by slashing his sword down upon Optimus, but was too late as Optimus had caught the staff and blocked Dreadwing's strike with something none of the Decepticons had expected to see Optimus wielding. "It can't be! That weapon was destroyed," Dreadwing reputed.

Sadly, it was true. Optimus Prime had stopped Dreadwing's attack with his old Energon Battle Axe, a weapon that he had long thought he would never wield again. Optimus then used said axe to push Dreadwing away and off of him, and then followed up with a mighty swing that Dreadwing barely escaped at the cost of his arm.

"Dreadwing," Athrun cried out, seeing his friend lose his arm.

"I am alright Athrun Zala," Dreadwing assured him. "Just stop Prime before he retrieves the sword."

Athrun nodded in reply and moved to fire the Aegis's beam rifle at Optimus, who was charging through Decepticon and Z.A.F.T. forces alike, cutting both down with his battle axe as he went. Before Athrun could fire though, he found he was once again stopped by Kira, who had fired his own beam rifle at him.

"This guy just doesn't quit does he," Jaylen asked as she charged the Strike the Zaku's own battle axe.

"No he doesn't," Athrun remarked.

Seeing all their forces were having trouble stopping Optimus or dealing with the Strike and Ironhide, who had been able to continue firing upon his enemies using his default blasters even after being attacked by Dreadwing, Megatron took to the skies in his jet mode flew in the same direction Optimus was heading.

Optimus then floored it as he drove up the mountain side at his vehicle mode's maximum speed. The next thing anyone knew, Optimus had launched himself into the air and transformed to robot mode reaching out one hand towards the sword in the mountain. By some stroke of luck, or miracle, or whatever you would want to call it, Optimus was able to grasp the sword handle, and with one mighty pull he pulled the legendary Star Saber free from the mountain. As soon as Optimus jumped clear, he was tackled by Megatron, who had transformed to robot mode as well.

The Decepticon warlord tried to pull the Star Saber away, shouting that he would not allow the Autobots to have the sword when something unexpected began to happen. The sword began to glow with the same radiant blue color as pure energon, while Megatron himself began to light up with a dark, purple glow, symbolizing that somehow the Dark Energon inside of him was reacting to the Star Saber. A moment later, there was a massive burst of energy that sent both of them flying apart and crashing to the ground. Optimus with the Star Saber in hand and still glowing, and Megatron empty handed and still alight with the glow of the Dark Energon.

Megatron snarled as he gave the order, "Decepticons, Z.A.F.T. forces, retreat." He then looked toward the _Havoc_ and decided to make one final desperate play. "_Havoc_, release the mountain from the tow cables. With any luck it will crush Prime beneath it." Though Megatron did hope this would be true, he somehow knew that Optimus would survive. He did not wish to see it though as he transformed and led all the enemy forces, including the Aegis and the Zaku away from the battle.

As Athrun and Jaylen flew away, they both looked back for a moment at Optimus and the Star Saber as the _Havoc_ carried out its final orders for this mission. "Looks like you were right Jaylen," Athrun commented with a small smile.

"What do you mean," Jaylen asked in genuine curiosity.

"It really was like the sword in the stone," Athrun explained with a chuckle.

Jaylen had a small laugh at that as she stated, "Yeah it really was."

* * *

Kira breathed a sigh of relief as he saw the enemy in full retreat but then saw that it was not over yet. "Optimus behind you," Kira shouted out.

Ironhide and Erica both looked towards Optimus and saw what had caused Kira's outburst. The mountain side had been released from the _Havoc_'s tow cables and was now rolling down the cliff towards Optimus.

"Prime move!" "Get out of there!" Were the cries of Ironhide and Erica respectively, but Optimus just seemed to ignore them as he stood there seemingly examining the sword he held in his hand. Just when it seemed like the mountain would crush him, Optimus turned around, took a stance, and swung the sword in an upward strike. Kira and the others could only look on in shock as the mountain split in half and collapsed on either side of Optimus as he swung the sword down.

"Incredible," Erica gasped.

"He just cut nearly an entire mountain clean in two with one swing," Kira breathed out as he looked on in shock.

"Now that is definitely a sign of that sword being the real thing," Ironhide stated.

* * *

Sometime later, everyone at the Autobot base had gathered near the ground bridge as Ironhide, Kira, and Erica walked through it with Optimus following shortly behind them, carrying the Star Saber as he came. Kira had dropped the Strike off at Morgenroete beforehand, with Erica assuring him to not worry about the additional damage that the machine had suffered in the recent battle. She did say that it would take a little longer to give it the full repair work she had told him it would get, but all the same it would not be a problem.

When the four came into the base from the Ground Bridge portal, they saw that Jazz, Hound, and Elita One had returned from working on the _Omega II_ and were waiting to greet them as well. When the other Autobots saw that Optimus was carrying both the Star Saber and his battle axe, they launched into a million questions for their fellow Bots. When Optimus finally got a chance to, he turned to Ironhide and asked, "How were you able to restore my old battle axe? I had thought it was destroyed in battle back on Cybertron."

"Not entirely," Ironhide confessed. "I was able to gather up what pieces I could and started putting it all back together shortly after we ended up here in Orb. I wasn't able to get the damn thing working until that last battle."

"Either way, you have my thanks old friend."

"You should thank Miss Erica. If it wasn't for her the thing would never have been able to start working again," Ironhide corrected as he gestured to said woman who had gained a small blush of embarrassment at the praise.

Optimus nodded in acknowledgement of this and turned to Erica as he said, "Thank you Erica Simmons. You have no idea what having this battle axe back at my side means to me, and for that I owe you a great debt. I believe that we have now found someone to call upon should the Autobots ever need additional technical expertise."

Erica smiled in joy at that while Ratchet just groaned in worry and muttered something about having more humans around to meddle in his work. Kira just chuckled a bit as he watched this exchange when his friends all approached him asking him what had happened. Kira thought for a moment before finally saying, "I guess now it's my turn to share an old war story. As long as Bulkhead and Wheeljack don't mind."

"Trust me kid, we're more than willing to let someone else have a turn," Bulkhead commented.

"Yeah besides, I think this is going to be a story we've gotta hear," Wheeljack added.

Kira chuckled and gestured for everyone to gather around as he began to tell everyone about how he faced off with a massive army with just himself, Optimus, and Ironhide; how Optimus worked to retrieve the Star Saber; and how he had ended up facing off against Megatron himself.

Optimus smiled at the exchange as he saw that it seemed that Kira's road to recovery from the stress he had been under lately was well under way, as he watched the young man spend time with his friends.

* * *

Aboard the _Nemesis_, Athrun and Jaylen were with Megatron in one of the ship's labs as they waited for their machines to be repaired before being sent back to Orb. Athrun decided to gather his courage and speak up as he stated, "I'm sorry that the operation was a failure Lord Megatron. I assure you we did everything we could."

"Do not apologize Athrun Zala," Megatron reassured him calmly, something that surprised Athrun as he was sure that Megatron would have been furious at what had happened. "It had become a situation that none of us had expected. However, this mission was not a total loss."

"Really? And why do you say that Lord Megatron if you don't mind our asking," Jaylen asked, intrigued by what Megatron had said.

"From today's battle, I learned the pilot of the Strike is actually a mere human child, perhaps not that much older than either one of you," Megatron explained. Athrun had gasped in shock, thinking at first that Megatron had learned Kira's identity, but when he heard the rest of what Megatron had said, he let out a mental sigh of relief before the warlord continued. "And not only that, but while Prime may have his precious Star Saber sword, I believe I have now found an equalizer for that."

"What do you mean," Athrun asked, now very confused.

"When I had grasped the sword in an attempt to pull it away from Optimus, the Dark Energon within me began to resonate with the sword," Megatron explained. "Though it has taken me some time to understand, I now see that the Dark Energon within me could sense the sword's power and sought to give me something that could equal it. I believe we should allow it to do so don't you?"

As soon as he said that, Megatron extended his hand forward and scrunched his face in concentration. In doing so, the dark substance that coursed through him began to glow once more; surrounding him in a dark, evil aura that seemed to cause the air to become heavy and made Athrun and Jaylen feel almost as though they were suffocating. A moment later, and the aura extended outward and began to form something. Then in a massive burst of energy, the two humans were knocked away from where they were standing while Megatron fell to his knees. Megatron then looked in front of him and let out a low chuckle, which prompted Athrun and Jaylen to look in the same direction as well after the former had helped the latter to her feet once again.

Laying on the ground before Megatron, was a menacing looking sword with a black handle who's hilt seem to twist upward and around the base of the blade. The blade itself glowed with the same menacing aura that was associated with Dark Energon as though it were made of the substance itself. Megatron continued to chuckle as he picked up the mighty blade that had just been created before their very eyes and examined it. As he finished doing so, he proclaimed, "This was neither the Decepticons darkest hour, nor Z.A.F.T.'s, for now I posses a weapon that has a might equal to that of one of the legendary weapons of the Thirteen Primes. Look upon this magnificent blade you two and behold the power that shall be the end of Optimus Prime and the Autobots. Behold the Dark Star Saber!"

Athrun and Jaylen were doing just that, but neither one of them were as awestruck by the blade as Megatron was, but rather terrified of both it and what its master may do with it.

* * *

Erica Simmons would be the first one to admit that she was being very hypocritical right now, as earlier she had done everything she could to help Cagalli convince Kira that everyone needs to take a break sometimes and yet now she was in her office working when she should have been at home getting some sleep. The reason for this though, was not because she had work to do, but that the events of today had given her much to think about. Seeing no other way to get it off her chest, she had come to her office and turned her computer on to record something.

As soon as she had given her identification and password she began recording what she wanted to say. "In the earlier stages of our contact with the alien life forms, the Autobots from planet Cybertron, I had believed that they were highly advanced machines with incredible capabilities and technology, but today I learned that they are much more than that."

"Even after spending millions of years in a war against their own kind, each of the Autobots that I have met have found ways to carry on fighting and at the same time find a way to still look after others, including us human beings whether they are Naturals or Coordinators, an way of thinking that is shared by the Orb Union, and which they whole world could learn from. They are able to laugh, love, and even look back on past battle with joy and laugh things off like it was nothing. The two most notable cases of the last one being the Autobot Wreckers, Bulkhead and Wheeljack, who were old war buddies from back on their home world."

"Another instance being the Autobot Scout, Bumblebee who lost his voice box in the line of duty. Despite the fact he may never hear the sound of his own voice again, the scout still continues to press on and live his life happily, never giving up hope. One could argue that is because he has been identified as the youngest of the Autobot group that has gathered here in Orb, but I honestly feel that it is because Bumblebee truly believes that everything will work out for the best."

"My final case of the Autobots being more than what they seem would be the Autobot leader himself, Optimus Prime. While in his youth he was the human equivalent of a simple librarian, Optimus was able to adapt and become a mighty warrior, who fought for the belief of peace and freedom for all sentient beings, all of which were contributing factors in his ascent to becoming the last Prime. Today though, I saw Optimus risk everything to keep a powerful object out of Decepticon hands, and yet he seemed to be happier by the fact that his old weapon, which he calls his Energon Battle Axe, was restored to him. When he expressed his gratitude to me for my assistance in restoring said weapon, I could see that despite how well he normally hides his emotions, Optimus was genuinely grateful to have something that he would seem to consider similar to a long lost friend restored to him."

"In conclusion, it is hard to really pay attention to the differences between Cybertronians and humans as it seems that they have more in common with us than many of us would have believed at first. In fact I would go so far as to say that maybe, perhaps the Autobots are just as if not even more human than we are."

With her log entry finished, Erica Simmons sealed the file with an encrypted password and shut off the computer and lights before leaving her office to return home to her husband and son who were waiting for her.

* * *

**_Erica: Don't you think the chapter didn't really focus that much on the team you had for this adventure?_**

**_AN: Admittedly I did want it to be mostly focused on that, but as I kept running this through my head, the more I found it ending up like this._**

**_Ironhide: I gotta ask though, why the reference to the Sword in the Stone_**

**_AN: When I was growing up most of the movies I watched as a kid were Disney movies, and one of my favorites was The Sword in the Stone. Ever since I had a pretty big interest in stuff involving the legend of King Arthur, and I honestly think a bit of my interest in swords also originated from that as well. So when I first saw the episode of Transformers Prime that this chapter was based off of, I couldn't help but think back to that old story of the sword in the stone._**

**_Ironhide: Yeah it definitely does have some similarities._**

**_Erica: I have a question though. Why are you setting up the next chapter the way it is?_**

**_AN: Ah an excellent question. Now normally I hate, and I mean hate fillers and I wouldn't normally do this, but in this case I felt it best to make the next chapter like this so everyone has a chance to vote on the poll for the next team. Plus I always find parts of the episode that the next chapter is based off of to be really funny, especially one scene in particular that I am just dying to include in the next chapter._**

**_Erica: I suppose that makes sense. Sort of._**

**_AN: That being said, onto the preview..._**

**_An arctic expedition leads the Autobots to a curious find of Cybertronian origin, prompting Optimus and Elita One to return to investigate further. While the two leading figures are away from the base, the true nature of the find is revealed much to the horror of the Autobots in the base. Facing an infestation of creatures that eat metal and consider living metal a delicacy, Kira, Cagalli, Miriallia, and the rest of the Autobots' human friends now become the guardians of their large friends as they work to rid the base of the infestation and restore the Ground Bridge to functionality. Can they clear the base in time, or will the Autobots in the base become a main course while Optimus and Elita freeze to death. Next time on Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Prime…_****Chapter 13: Infestation****_. Cast out the metal eating menace Kira and friends!_**

**_AN: Read, review, and please be sure to vote on the poll for the next team you want to see, found in my profile page._**

**_All Three: See you next time!_**


	13. 13: Infestation

_**AN: Please welcome this story's very own OC and the leader of the Zala team, Jaylen Westenfluss and Athrun Zala!**_

_**[Audience applause]**_

_**Jaylen: Hey great to be here.**_

_**Athrun: Yeah no kidding. Quick question about the last chapter though, why have Kira fight Megatron like that?**_

_**AN: Well ever since this story started, the idea behind it was to have Transformers facing off with Gundams or mobile suits and so far we've only seen that in passing so this time around I decided to make that a center stage thing, and what better way to do it than with a face off between the Strike and the leader of the Decepticons himself?**_

_**Jaylen: Ya know that actually makes sense. Now how about answering some reviews?**_

_**AN: Of course.**_

_**Athrun: Well there's really only one we can answer at the moment. The review by stardrago.**_

_**AN: Ah right. In order, more than likely yes the whole Unicron thing will be covered in the last story of the trilogy most likely, probably not on the message but definitely yes on the hammer that will have a major part in the sequel, and as for the question referring to the Star Build Strike, no Kira will not pilot it but you did give me the solution to a major problem I was having with a certain set of details in the sequel.**_

_**Athrun: Well that was rather brief.**_

_**AN: What? We've gotta get on with today's chapter so excuse me if I want to get right to things. That being said, Jaylen, would you be so kind?**_

_**Jaylen: Alright then. lyokoMARVELanime does not own either the Transformers or Gundam franchises in any way shape or form.**_

* * *

**Chapter 13: Infestation**

"I've told you Doc, we're fine," Bulkhead insisted after he pulled a pair of blue cables from his chest, the same of which were attached to Bumblebee and Hound.

"The only way to be certain you're fine Bulkhead is to endure standard defrosting procedure. You know prolonged exposure to subzero conditions can cause permanent damage," the Autobot medic scolded as he sat Bulkhead back down and reattached the cables.

Bulkhead, Hound, and Bumblebee had recently returned from an arctic exploration mission to investigate a strange Cybertronian reading in the northern area of the planet. What they had found was a very strange pod that was frozen in ice, which they decided to bring back to the Autobot base in Orb. Ratchet had spent a few hours since researching it, but had yet to find anything out about the arctic find, mostly due to the fact that the pod could not be opened while it was frozen solid, a fact that he shared with Optimus when the last Prime asked for his progress.

Knowing this, Optimus told Ratchet to bring up a Ground Bridge for the previous coordinates. "Elita One and I will search for any clue which might explain the true origin, or even the purpose of our arctic find," Optimus explained.

"Only until your sensors sound," Ratchet warned. "Remember, once your core temperature drops into the blue zone systems failures aren't likely, they're imminent."

At that point, the sound of engines reached the Autobots' audio sensors, leading them all to look towards the entrance in time to see Wheeljack, Jazz, Arcee, and Ironhide pulling into the base with Kira, Cagalli, Mu, and the rest of Kira's friends and the commanders of the _Archangel_, with Flay being the only exception seeing as she still wanted nothing to do with the Autobots. "Hey Autobot Outpost Alpha I," Mu called out. "Did ya miss us?"

Ratchet just groaned in annoyance. "Shouldn't at least one of you being watching over the repairs of your ship? Or more importantly, shouldn't a certain one of you be in school or something?"

Knowing she was the one Ratchet was referring to when he made the school remark, Cagalli stated, "One I've been homeschooled my whole life, and two even if I wasn't it's a Saturday, and most humans have the weekends off when they are in school."

"Plus we have Ensign Newmann overseeing the repairs at the _Archangel_ for the moment," Murrue stated as she walked past.

"So we all have a chance to hang out with you today," Mu stated happily.

Miriallia walked over to Elita to ask why the pink Autobot had not given her a lift like she normally had when they needed a ride to the base. "Sorry about that Miriallia, but it's my turn for exploration duty."

"Oh that's too bad. It is a beautiful day outside and I would hate for you to feel guilty for leaving me indoors," Miriallia hinted.

"Arctic exploration duty. With Optimus."

"Indoors where it's warm and where I'm not in the way of your quality time with your sparkmate."

As soon as Miriallia walked away, Kuzzey ran over to Optimus and Elita with a look of excitement. "Are you guys really going to the arctic?" At Optimus's nod in reply Kuzzey continued saying, "Can I come with you guys? I've always wanted to see real snow."

"I would invite you to join Kuzzey, but the conditions are much too extreme even for we Autobots," Optimus told him sadly.

"Oh okay. I understand," Kuzzey replied.

Optimus and Elita both moved to head through the Ground Bridge before Optimus paused and turned back to Kuzzey to say, "But I will see if I can bring you back a snowball."

Kuzzey instantly perked up at that and told him that would be great too, and with that the two Autobot commanders and sparkmates raced through the Ground Bridge into the snowy terrain on the other side. As soon as the portal shut down though, the controls sparked and caused Ratchet to worry. "Bulkhead, Ironhide, Hound, I need you three over here," he called out.

The three went over to see what the problem was while the other Bots moved to hang out with Kira and his friends, and Kuzzey went off with Mu to explore more of the base, seeing as Kuzzey was the only one who had not been there as often as the others and Mu did not want the kid going off on his own. "I need some heavy lifting done," Ratchet explained. "The Ground Bridge just went down."

"Are Optimus and Elita okay? Did they make it through," Ironhide asked.

"Yes they're both fine for the moment, but it's bringing them back that I'm worried about."

"Well then we'd best get started," Hound replied. "We should have someone go and get Miss Erica as well just to be safe."

Ratchet suppressed another groan and agreed, and soon enough Wheeljack was on his way to get said mechanic while the four set to work on the Ground Bridge, and Jazz started up a little dance party with Bumblebee, Arcee, and some of Kira's friends joining in soon enough. Arcee being more reluctantly than the others, but still joining in when Bumblebee asked.

* * *

"You know no matter how many times I've explored this place myself, it still amazes me every time I see more of it than just that central hub," Mu commented.

"Yeah I can see why. It is really amazing," Kuzzey agreed. The two then paused when they heard a clanging sound from nearby. Kuzzey looked and saw a small bolt lying on the floor. Mu was wondering what that was doing there, considering Ratchet did not seem like the type to let something like that just stay lying around, when he and Kuzzey both heard a soft clattering noise.

"Hello," Mu called out. At the sound of another clang, Kuzzey gasped in shock as they both spun around, seeing nothing behind them. Kuzzey was ready to turn around and run, but then screamed a bit as he turned around before falling back. Mu spun back around to see what had frightened the boy, and saw that Kuzzey had just apparently screamed in shock at the sight of a small little robot with four tiny legs, and a big head with bug eyes.

"Hey where did you come from," Kuzzey asked the little robot once he had calmed down and had a small laugh. The little robot just scuttled closer to him in answer.

"Well how about that," Mu stated with a smile of relief. "Even the Autobots have pets."

Kuzzey looked at the bolt he had in his hand, before deciding to try and play fetch with the little creature. The little robot seemed to jump in excitement before Kuzzey gave the bolt a small toss. The little guy ran after the flying piece of metal before it jumped and seemed to start eating it.

"Hey wait don't eat that!" Kuzzey called out in worry. "You're going to choke!" The small robot just finished eating the bolt and turned around to look at the two.

"Or not," Mu stated in shock. The small robot then scuttled back to Kuzzey and rubbed its head against his leg like a small kitten would against its owner's. Kuzzey smiled at the little guy and figured they should go and show him to the others. Mu followed after him, but could not help but have a bad feeling about the little robot. A feeling that was well justified by the power couplings that appeared to have been eaten through which the two did not notice.

* * *

Jazz's little dance party was cut short for two reasons, one being Ratchet was getting irritated by it and the other being a sudden near power failure. Seeing as the party was not going to go anywhere anytime soon, Jazz figured that he, Bumblebee, and Arcee should see what they could do to help Ratchet and the others. Kira figured he should ask Erica, who had just arrived a few seconds ago, if he and the others could do something to help out as well and led his friends over to where they were all working.

"We most definitely have a problem," Ratchet stated as he pulled out a circuit board that looked like something had taken three large bites out of.

"But what could've caused this," Erica asked, voicing everyone's unasked question at the sight of the circuit board.

"Or that," Jazz asked as the power flickered once again.

"Might be the main grid. Hopefully it isn't a substation malfunction," Ratchet analyzed worriedly.

"Hey guys look what we found," Kuzzey called out as he entered the room.

"We're busy, AH," Ratchet hollered as soon as he saw what Kuzzey was carrying.

"WHOA! WHOA," Bulkhead shouted as he and the other Autobots started backing away in horror, readying their default weapons and aiming them in the direction of the little robot that Kuzzey was carrying.

Seeing this, Kira panicked and quickly ran over to stand in the way of the Autobots' line of fire with the other humans in the base as he shouted out, "Hey calm down you guys!"

"Yeah what is wrong with you all," Cagalli shouted.

"Scraplet! SCRAPLET," Hound shouted.

"What's a Scraplet," Sai asked.

"The most dangerous vermin ever to crawl upon the face of Cybertron," Ratchet explained in fear.

The humans all turned to look at the small robot that Kuzzey was carrying, before Mu, Murrue, Erica, and even Natarle all burst out laughing. Kira and his friends even chuckled a little before Tolle asked, "This little thing? Seriously?"

"You guys are giant robots," Miriallia agreed, still giggling a little at how the Bots were freaking out like little girls over the small robot in her friend's arms. "And Scrappy here is teeny."

Bumblebee just shook his head as he let out a few fearful beeps which Arcee agreed with by saying, "Bee's right, you guys really have no idea just what kind of damage that 'teeny' thing can do."

"I'm sure he wouldn't hurt anything," Kuzzey said nervously, but then again how could he not be nervous considering he had eight Autobots pointing their blasters at him. That was when the Scraplet started to wake up. As soon as it laid eyes on the Autobots, it opened a large, shark teeth filled mouth and jumped at the Autobots. The eight were soon firing on the little thing, trying to hit it, but the little thing was moving too fast for them and soon enough it jumped up and landed on Bumblebee's leg, eating away at his metal appendage. The scout tried to grab it to throw it off, but that was a mistake as it just moved on to continuing its meal on his arm. He finally knocked it away, only for the small machine to get up and try to charge again. Before it could scuttle anywhere near the scout though, Kuzzey had grabbed a crowbar and beaten the little menace into spare parts.

Seeing that the small fiend was thoroughly smashed, Kuzzey ran over to Bumblebee screaming out an apology, which Bumblebee just waved off like the good hearted being he always was. "Is he going to be okay," Kuzzey asked.

"He'll live," Ratchet reported. "It's only a mesh wound."

"Now do you believe us," Bulkhead butted in. "All Scraplets do is dismantle machinery and eat anything metal, especially living metal!"

"Sorry for doubting you Bulkhead," Cagalli apologized on behalf of all the humans.

"But on the bright side, the bug's squashed so it's over now right," Natarle asked.

"No," Ratchet replied. "When it comes to Scraplets there's never just one."

"Kinda like cockroaches," Mu observed softly to Murrue, who nodded in agreement.

"And I fear I know how they got in here," Ratchet stated. He quickly grabbed a scanner and led everyone over to the pod that Bulkhead, Bumblebee, and Hound had brought back from the arctic as he confirmed his fears.

"It's a trap," Ratchet reported. "A Scraplet trap."

"Uh, an **empty** Scraplet trap," Bulkhead corrected worriedly.

"Most likely ejected into space eons ago only to wind up in the arctic where the temperature kept them in stasis."

"Until we brought the thaw," Hound realized.

"And now they're wide awake and ready for brunch," Wheeljack continued in a worried tone that matched Bulkhead's.

"So exactly how many are we talking about here," Natarle asked, trying to get an idea what they were now up against.

"Thousands," Ratchet replied solemnly. "The Ground Bridge damage and the power malfunctions are sure signs that their infestation is well underway."

"Wait, if that is the case, and they are keeping the Ground Bridge down," Erica began, remembering the reason why she was there in the first place.

"Oh no," Arcee whispered. "Optimus and Elita."

* * *

In the midst of the arctic winds, Optimus and Elita were scanning as much as they could of the area that the previous team had gone to search. During this time, Elita decided to have a little private conversation with Optimus, seeing as the two had not had much alone time lately given everything that had been going on. "You know you were really thoughtful with Kuzzey back at base," the pink femme commented.

"From what I had heard, Kuzzey was born in the now destroyed space colony of Heliopolis, so it is his first time on Earth," Optimus explained. "To not allow him the chance to experience as much of the many wonders of his world would be something that I could not allow."

Elita nodded in understanding at that and just smirked a bit. "It's not just him though. The way you are with Kira Yamato and his other friends, it kind of reminds me of how you can sometimes be with Bumblebee."

Optimus just smiled softly at his sparkmate. "Perhaps I just wish for the younger generation to be strong and have hope for a better future."

Elita chuckled a bit before placing a hand on Optimus's arm and stating, "With that in mind, I have a feeling you will make a great father someday."

Optimus blushed a bit at the suggestion Elita had made and would have spluttered a response had their sensors not gone off, indicating that they had both reached the blue zone. "Optimus to base, core temperature readings have reached the blue zone. Prepare to activate Ground Bridge."

All Optimus got in response was static. After giving Elita a glance, he knew from the way she looked at him in concern that she had similar results. At that point the two knew that something was wrong and that they were both in trouble as well.

* * *

Ratchet slammed a fist on his console angrily as he tried and failed to contact Optimus and Elita. "The Scraplets have gotten into the comm. systems. If we don't stop them soon, they will reduce the entire base into a scrap heap."

"Well I say we bug out of here and let 'em keep it," Bulkhead replied. Bumblebee whirred in agreement with his big green friend along with voiced agreements from Hound, Wheeljack, and even Ironhide.

"Evacuation is not an option," Arcee told them. "If we don't get the Ground Bridge back online stat, then Optimus and Elita will both end up as popsicles, and let's not forget that Orb will more than likely end up being their next meal before they move on to the rest of Earth."

"What," Sai gasped, realizing both how much a danger the Scraplets were to their homeland and the world, and just how mortal the Bots are for himself, along with Miriallia, Tolle, and Kuzzey. The feeling was shared by all the adult humans in the room seeing as neither they, nor the four kids had been there when Cliffjumper had died. Kira and Cagalli were the only ones who were not hit by this realization, but that did not mean they were not worried about the two Autobots.

Cagalli then turned an angry look to Bulkhead and his fellow Wreckers. "What is with you three," she demanded. "I thought that the Wreckers never ran away from anything!"

"Cagalli, you haven't seen a swarm of these things devour a Bot," Bulkhead stated. "I have, and the same goes for Wheeljack and Hound as well."

"Don't remind me," Wheeljack groaned as he shivered a bit. "They pick you apart from the inside out, going for the small juicy bits first, fuse by fuse, circuit by circuit, until there's nothing left, and I mean nothing! Not even your optics."

That's when Kira gained a serious look. From a simple glance, Mu recognized that look from when Kira was about to head out in the Strike, which meant that the kid was getting serious and preparing to gear up for action in some way. "That's why you have to let us help you guys," Kira stated.

All the current human residents of the base looked at Kira in surprise at first, until they realized what Kira was going for. "Kira's right," Miriallia agreed. "We're not made of metal so the Scraplets can't hurt us."

"Typically I find your fleshiness to be one of your least engaging qualities, but under these extremes it would appear to be an advantage," Ratchet relented.

"Alright then we should pair off," Murrue stated, taking charge. "At least one human for each Bot."

"Sai, Miss Erica, and I should stay here to watch Ratchet's back while he works to repair the Ground Bridge seeing as we can be of the most help to him if he needs it," Kira stated. Sai and Erica both nodded in agreement.

Cagalli then smirked as she finished by stating, "While the rest of us go on a little bug hunt."

The Autobots, with the exception of Ratchet just looked at each other with fear and worry in their optics before they all let out nervous moans and shivers. The teams going bug hunting ended up being, Cagalli and Miriallia with Bulkhead and Wheeljack; Mu, Murrue, and Natarle with Jazz, Ironhide, and Hound; and Tolle and Kuzzey with Bumblebee and Arcee. With all that decided the group split off to find the Scraplet swarm, with Autobots being more reluctant than anyone else.

* * *

"Circumstances aside, this is actually kind of fun," Cagalli smirked. At Miriallia's questioning glance she elaborated saying, "We get to be their bodyguards for once."

Miriallia giggle a little as Bulkhead and Wheeljack kept spinning around left to right, shaking in their pedes as they kept their optics out for Scraplets. "Uh Kuzzey said he saw that first one here right," Bulkhead asked.

Just then the lights blinked out and someone let out a girly scream. When the lights switched back on, both of the only two girls in the group turned to Bulkhead with slightly mischievous smirks as they Cagalli asked, "Bulkhead, did you just scream like a little girl?"

"No," Bulkhead answered a little too quickly. He then adopted a sheepish expression. "Maybe…Can we talk about this later?"

"This is just sad Bulk," Wheeljack moaned as he placed a hand to his face. Then the power blinked again and someone else gave off a girly scream. As soon as the lights went back on, the three then turned to Wheeljack as he meekly stated, "Uh…must've been a steam valve that sprung apart when a Scraplet ate through it."

"Uh huh, sure Jackie," Miriallia replied with a sly look. They all then continued on with both of the two Wreckers getting more and more antsy with every second. Finally, Cagalli was starting to get annoyed. "Will you two calm down? Just stay focused and remember everything's going to be…"

At the sound of a Scraplet's scuttling, Bulkhead and Wheeljack both panicked and fired a pair of shots in random directions before one of them shot up, and ended up screaming like a pair of little girls again. Cagalli and Miriallia spun around to see the embarrassing sight of the two Wreckers swatting at a bunch of cables that had fallen down from the ceiling over the two.

"Okay, wish I hadn't seen that," Cagalli commented.

"And I'm glad I had my camera for this," Miriallia commented as she snapped a few pictures before getting a video recording. Cagalli smirked at her brown haired friend for getting some good blackmail material for the near future.

"Bulkhead, Wheeljack, you're both fine," Cagalli finally shouted to snap the two out of it. "It's just a bunch of cables."

The two Wreckers then paused in their panic attack as they realized how ridiculous they were being. "Oh right. Cables. We knew that, hehe," Bulkhead stated.

Wheeljack then saw something Bulkhead had missed. "Bulk wait! Don't pull that cable," he tried to shout out, but he was too late. This time when the two screamed like little girls, it really was because they had Scraplets scuttling all over them. The two girls looked at each other before nodding, and charging in to swat the vermin off of their friends.

* * *

During this time, Tolle and Kuzzey were searching another area with Bumblebee and Arcee. As they all looked around the hallway they were in, the two humans were astounded by the carnage the little monsters had caused. "Sheesh, don't these things ever stop eating," Tolle asked.

"Don't ask," Arcee replied nervously. Though she was the one who opted to stay, she was just as worried about the little vermin as the others were, she just was not going to be freaking out as much as a certain pair of Wreckers.

The four made their way over to a grate that had clearly been eaten through, and braced themselves. On Arcee's signal, Bumblebee pulled the iron vent open and they all prepared to hit the little bugs hard and fast, only to discover that the vent was completely devoid of Scraplets.

"Well I guess we just missed them," Kuzzey commented hopefully. That hope was soon dashed, as they heard scuttling behind them. They all turned around slowly, and saw Scraplets starting to swarm up from the ventilation shaft in the floor. Bumblebee and Arcee were firing on the little monsters with Tolle and Kuzzey smashing away at them soon enough.

* * *

Back in the central hub of the base, Jazz's group had opted to remain behind as an extra guard for Ratchet and his three human assistants, feeling that they would be the best people for the job. Under normal circumstances, Kira would be wondering why Mu, Murrue, and Natarle had brought side arms with them to the Autobot base, but today, he was definitely not going to be complaining. "So how's it going over there tech heads," Mu asked as he spared a glance in Ratchet's direction.

"We've repaired the damaged conductors and rerouted the central conduits, but the Ground Bridge still won't receive power," Ratchet replied angrily as he slammed one fist into the floor, clearly frustrated.

"Calm down Ratchet, there must be a reason for that, we just have to figure out what," Sai told Ratchet. "Kira, how're things looking from your end?"

"Still nothing Sai," Kira replied. "I've gone over everything but it seems like I keep missing some basic fact when trying to figure out why the Ground Bridge isn't getting powered up."

"Everyone quiet," Natarle shouted suddenly. "Do you hear that?"

Sai quickly grabbed a metal pole along with Kira, while Erica grabbed a spare wrench, and the three Earth Forces soldiers pulled out their guns as they heard the sound of something scuttling across a metal surface. Jazz, Ironhide, and Hound all prepped their own default weapons at the tell-tale sound of Scraplets. Kira looked around and finally saw a herd of the little monsters sitting high up on one of the walls, before they opened their mouths and then _flew_ into the air towards the four metal giants. "Guys they're up there," Kira shouted.

At once, Mu, Murrue, and Natarle started shooting at the airborne little monsters. "Someone want to explain why it was never mentioned that these things could fly," Mu shouted as he fired and shot down a few Scraplets.

"We'll discuss it later, just keep the little bugs off Ratchet," Jazz shouted as he opened fire.

"Forget that, we should be more worried about keepin' 'em off us," Ironhide retorted as a small amount of the swarm got onto his arm.

Even as Ironhide said it, the Scraplets were swarming him, Jazz, and Hound quickly enough sending all three to the ground, with their human bodyguards shooting the little monsters as much as they could. Sadly their efforts were all for naught, as a small amount broke off from the rest and flew towards Ratchet sending him to the ground. Sai raced over with Erica to swat them off the medical Bot, but it was not much help, until Sai grabbed a nearby fire extinguisher and sprayed some of the Scraplets, causing them to fall like rocks down a cliff.

"Kira! Grab one of the fire extinguishers," Sai called out seeing how effective his was. Kira nodded and did as his friend had told him, while shouting out the same to Mu. In no time at all, the three of them were spraying the Scraplets like no tomorrow until they had all fallen off the Bots.

"Ratchet," Bulkhead cried out, getting everyone's attention. "Get the patch kit. We're leaking energon like-WHOA!"

Kira and the others all turned to see what had Bulkhead screaming out like that and saw that a fresh Scraplet swarm had entered the hub and were now flying through the air towards all the Bots.

"Eat this," Bulkhead shouted as he slammed his wrecking ball into some of them. A moment later he raised it up and saw that the Scraplets were doing just that to both the wrecking ball, and the rest of him, leading him to once again scream like a little girl. Every human was soon charging at the little monstrosities doing everything they could to help their friends. It was a long time before they finally brought the Scraplet swarm to a halt, but it resulted in all the Bots being very damaged and lying on the ground moaning in pain.

"Did we get them all," Tolle asked. They all then heard the sound of Scraplets eating away coming from throughout the base.

"Hardly," Ratchet moaned in despair. "These were just scouts."

Bumblebee barely beeped out a retort at that before he fell back on the floor. "So the rest of 'em know we're in here," Hound asked, fearing the answer.

"And if we allow ourselves to become their next meal Optimus and Elita will never make it home," Arcee answered for Ratchet.

"Which is why we must get the Ground Bridge operational," Ratchet added on.

"If we could do that, we could use it to send the Scraplets anywhere on Earth," Erica stated.

"Why not back to the arctic? I mean we already know they don't like the cold," Sai suggested.

"Sounds like one-stop shopping to me," Tolle stated.

"Given the body mass of the Scraplets, sub-zero temperatures should freeze them on contact," Ratchet stated. "So think Ratchet, think. If the Ground Bridge is still down…"

"Then maybe there's a breach in the energon fuel line," Sai finished.

"Yes Sai, that's it exactly! Why didn't I see it before," Ratchet exclaimed excitedly.

**_"_****_Uh Doc, glad you figured it out, but there's still a small problem,"_** Bumblebee buzzed as he tried and failed to sit up.

"If we weren't breaching one of us could get back over there and fix it," Ironhide finished.

"Where do we find it then," Miriallia asked.

"And how do we fix it," Erica added.

* * *

Soon enough, Kira, his friends, and Erica were all making their way through a hallway crawling with Scraplets towards the energon fuel line. All the while, Kira was reassuring his friends that they would be okay since they weren't metal.

"Hey there's the breach," Erica called out, racing over to it. "Kira, Sai, hurry! We've got to work fast."

"Roger that," Kira replied.

"Okay," Sai answered.

"We'll keep you guys covered," Miriallia reassured them.

Soon enough, they had repaired the breach, but the Scraplets did not seem to care as they all flew off in a direction that had all of them worried. "They're heading for the Autobots," Tolle exclaimed.

* * *

"Hey quick question," Mu suddenly said as he held a fire extinguisher at the ready. "When you guys get the Ground Bridge…"

"If they get the Ground Bridge working," Natarle tried to correct him.

"_When_ we get the Ground Bridge working, do we get Optimus and Elita back or send those little bugs through first?"

"Havin' Prime and Elita return would just give 'em fresh meat," Jazz answered. "And if we're gonna get these bugs outta here we're gonna need bait."

Just then, the Scraplet swarm arrived, followed by Kira and the others a moment later saying that the Ground Bridge was good to go. Using what strength he could, Ratchet activated the Ground Bridge before he collapsed on the floor. Seeing the perfect chance, Bulkhead and Ironhide both nodded to each other before getting the Scraplets' attention and leading them through the portal saying, "Come and get the main course ya little vermin!"

As soon as the two had reached the other side of the portal, they saw a nearly frozen Optimus Prime and Elita One trying to reach the portal themselves. "Both of ya, get down NOW," Ironhide shouted as he and Bulkhead hit the snow.

Not a minute later, the swarm emerged from the Ground Bridge flying for the two nearly frozen Autobots, but once they reached the sparkmates, they just bounced off of them like stones off a metal surface. Optimus and Elita both looked to see a large pile of frozen Scraplets lying in the snow around them and their two friends as Bulkhead and Ironhide stood up, wiping frozen Scraplets off of themselves as well.

"We'd invite you both in, but the place is a mess," Ironhide remarked.

Optimus and Elita looked at each other knowing they were in for quite the story when they got back.

* * *

Later that day, Optimus and Elita had gone through a long defrosting procedure, and the _Archangel_ crewmembers, Cagalli, and Erica were helping Ratchet with brining the other Autobots back to full health. It would obviously be a long and hard process, but no one was doing any complaining after the day they all had.

"Perhaps you should get some rest yourself old friend," Optimus advised Ratchet after the medic had given out instructions to his human assistants. "You saved quite a few lives today."

"It…wasn't all my doing," Ratchet admitted with a small smile. "We're just fortunate that this infestation happened during one of our human allies' visits, and on a Saturday as well."

Optimus smiled at that as he stated, "Our human friends may be small, but they are strong."

Just then Cagalli let out a loud scream, prompting Kira and the others to jump into ready positions. "What is it," Kira cried out.

"Another Scraplet," Mu asked.

"Did we miss one," Erica asked with worry.

"Spider! Is it on me," Cagalli screamed as she started to run for it.

Seeing a chance for a little payback, Bulkhead could not help himself as he asked, "Did she just scream like a little girl?"

"Bulk, first off she actually is a girl so it doesn't count," Miriallia told him. "And second of all, if you or Wheeljack decide to give Cagalli a hard time about this then I will make sure everyone knows just how embarrassing your little panic attacks were. I have both photos and videos to prove it."

"You wouldn't. Would you," Bulkhead asked nervously. Miriallia just smirked in reply as if daring him to try her. The two Wreckers just looked at each other before saluting as best they could and saying, "Yes ma'am."

That day, everyone learned that Miriallia was someone that you did not want getting blackmail material on you. She would more than likely use it, and it caused Kira and friends all to wonder just what their normally cheerful friend had on them.

* * *

**_AN: [laughing hysterically as a playback of Bulkhead and Wheeljack's scene is playing] Oh that never gets old, its just as hilarious every time._**

**_Jaylen &amp; Athrun: [both laughing just as much]_**

**_AN: Ah so anyways all humor aside, Jaylen how does it feel to be the first OC in any of my stories like this?_**

**_Jaylen: It's pretty cool actually, especially when I looked over who you had based me off of. I gotta say I really like that Heine guy._**

**_AN: So you're pretty much cool with what'll happen to you?_**

**_Jaylen: Oh yeah I'm just glad I'll get to be around for as long as I am around. I don't mind you-_**

**_AN: DAH! SPOLIER! [hits a button that drops a safe that nearly lands on top of Jaylen]_**

**_Athrun: [After pushing Jaylen out of the way] WHAT THE HELL?!_**

**_AN: Sorry about that, but I got tired of saying "hey with the spoilers" all the time. This just seems to work better._**

**_Athrun: You could've killed us!_**

**_AN: Dude this's the Author's Note section. The chance of you dying are as high as the chance of Daffy Duck outsmarting Bugs Bunny._**

**_Athrun: Yeah you do know how ironic that is that you compared this place to a cartoon?_**

**_AN: It's not lost on me._**

**_Jaylen: Okay that aside, what makes you so sure Cagalli was homeschooled?_**

**_AN: I'm not. I just kind of figured she was cause I never saw anything that would suggest otherwise._**

**_Jaylen: Oh okay. Well moving onto the preview._**

**_AN: Hey that's my line!..._**

**_Their team's motto is that they don't call for backup, they call for clean up, but this latest assignment might give the Wreckers of Team Prime reason to go against that motto. At news of Decepticons performing roadside combat maneuvers on an all but abandoned roadway, the Autobots send out the three Wreckers and Mu La Flaga, Murdoch, and Sai to investigate. What will the six find on this vast desert roadway that most don't travel, and what will happen when the Wrecker trio end up facing off against what could easily be their Decepticon equals? Next time on Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Prime…_****Chapter 14: Wrecker Rumble****_. Take down those Decepticon mock offs Wreckers!_**

**_AN: Well that tells you who's next for action in the teams, and be sure to vote on the new poll for the third team now up. With that being said, if there's nothing else..._**

**_Athrun &amp; Jaylen: Nothing else?!_**

**_AN: Read, review, and be sure to vote in the poll. See you next chapter._**

**_Jaylen: What was that?_**

**_AN: Just something we used to do back at one of my old Boy Scout Summer camps_**


	14. 14: Wrecker Rumble

_**AN: Hey everyone, sorry for making ya wait so long, but you know how it is, last week was Thanksgiving weekend, and then there's getting ready for that time of year that we all know and love, yeah I'm talking about Christmas, and well I just had to really work at it just to find time to write this. Anyways no worries though as the new chapter's here now and I'll try to have the next chapter up as quickly as possible so that you don't wait as long so enjoy! Oh and I've posted a teaser story for my next Gundam crossover story, not in this series but for another series that I plan on starting so please read that when you get a chance.**_

_**I don't own anything in either the Gundam or Transformers franchises.**_

* * *

**Chapter 14: Wrecker Rumble**

The desert is normally a rather desolate place where there is not much activity to be found, even on roadways which have been abandoned for some time, but today was a different story as a small squad of cars were apparently cruising along steadily. At least that was the case until a police car had sounded its siren causing the other vehicles to either slow down or move aside. The next thing anyone knew though, a large dump truck had started smashing its way through the moving vehicles and an arm extended from it to scoop up the others. Not a moment later, a large military helicopter had flown in and started firing on the remaining vehicles that the dump truck had missed or had remained untouched by the police car that was now ramming through some stragglers.

Watching all this from the side of the road, were three familiar faces of the Zala team, particularly those of Yzak, Nicol, and Jaylen. "Remind me again what the point of all this is," Yzak moaned, clearly preferring to be back in Orb with Dearka and Athrun. "I mean they're not even taking out actual targets so why do we even need to be here?"

Jaylen just sighed at how annoying Yzak's whining was starting to get as she replied, "Because Megatron asked us to. You got a problem with that silver scar?"

Nicol then intervened before the two got into another argument, silently wishing that he could have been back in Orb himself. "Megatron stated that the Decepticons would need to be able to take advantage of the forms that their alt modes give them so that they could be more effective for both themselves and for Z.A.F.T. on future missions so being able to fight without revealing their true forms too obviously is the first step. Since these three have forms that would normally be used for such missions and it's their first time on Earth, he asked us to help them with their training so that we can point out any flaws that would be a major blow to their cover."

Yzak just growled a bit in acknowledgement before he turned away with a huff. Jaylen simply crossed her arms, slightly disappointed that her chance to one up Yzak again was spoiled but at the same time grateful that Nicol had interrupted as they did need to concentrate on watching the three Decepticons at work in their training. They resumed watching the three until the small simulation ended and the vehicles other than the police car, dump truck, and helicopter all disappeared, and said three vehicles pulled up to park in front of them for their critiques.

Jaylen then felt the need to ask, "How much longer do you think it will be before someone finds out about this?"

"You do remember that this is Z.A.F.T. territory right," Yzak reminded her. "Even if the Naturals found out what we were doing they can't do anything. Besides it's not like they'd be able to figure out exactly what's going on here."

"I'm not talking about the Earth Forces silver scar," Jaylen retorted. "This may be out of their jurisdiction, but what about the Autobots? There hasn't really been any official word that they really are with the Earth Forces so what if they find out and show up here?"

"Then we would welcome the change and the challenge," the police car growled. "And when they do show up, they will wish that they hadn't, because they will face the wrath of…the Decimators!"

* * *

"Why are we out here in the middle of a massive sand trap again," Wheeljack asked grumpily as he drove along down an empty roadway in vehicle mode with Hound and Bulkhead close behind him in a triangular formation in vehicle mode as well.

"Ratchet said that there were signs of Decepticon activity out here, namely on this roadway and he needed someone to investigate it," Bulkhead stated, trying to reason with his old friend. "And since it had been a while since the three of us had a mission as the old team, it seemed like something right up our alley."

"That and the fact that just about all the other Bots, including Prime, are currently either on _Omega II_ repair duty or scouting out possible energon sources leaving us the only ones available for this," Hound added in a joking tone. "Plus I think the ol' Doc Bot was getting fed up with putting up with us being around and breaking all his stuff was a pretty big contributing factor."

"Well to be fair you guys did break half of the stuff in his toolbox just this morning alone," Mu's voice cut in from inside of Wheeljack.

"And why are you, four eyes, and scruffy here again," Wheeljack retorted, his mood clearly not getting any better.

"Well according to Ratchet," Murdoch called over the radio inside of Hound. "It was to give a few extra eyes that were of this planet and in case ya needed a human or two to run interference for you guys, but if ya ask me I think he was mostly just getting fed up with me and the commander buggin' him almost as much as you guys were. The kid on the other hand though well…"

"You could call me a victim of circumstances, but I think it was because Ratchet thinks having someone a bit more levelheaded, at least in his opinion, around would come in handy," Sai called from inside Bulkhead.

"Well it doesn't change the fact that this whole assignment frags," Wheeljack snapped. A moment later, the white, red, and green striped sports car revved his engine and raced off ahead of the others before they could stop him. While just about everything that they had all said was true, it did little to help the fact that Wheeljack had been in a bad mood since he got up that morning. Ratchet found himself losing more of his tools and saying what everyone had come to consider his catchphrase, "I needed that!", than he usually did that day. It did not take him long to figure out that the Wrecker in a foul mood was behind it, but before he could protest further the first few times Bulkhead had asked the medic to try and take it easy on Wheeljack that day, but he did not say why exactly.

Sadly, Ratchet's already thin patience with the Wreckers in general had its limits, and eventually Wheeljack did not just push him past those limits, he barreled through them. The three Wreckers did not need to be geniuses to figure out that Ratchet used the latest in a number of readings of Decepticon activity that had been coming from this desert as an excuse to get rid of all three of them for a while, along with Mu and Murdoch, the former of which seemed to actually enjoy annoying Ratchet almost as much as some of the Bots sometimes did.

Sai ended up coming along just because he was visiting on his own because his other friends were doing things to help out with the _Archangel_'s repairs or whatever else they needed to be doing at the moment, and he was not lying when he said that Ratchet had considered him the most levelheaded out of all three of the humans that had been present at the time. After driving along in the desert for so long though, the fact that Wheeljack's mood had been getting more and more sour had all three humans more than concerned which prompted him to ask his current large, green ride, "Hey Bulkhead, what's wrong with Wheeljack?"

Bulkhead hesitated for a moment before he eventually let out a long sigh as he stated, "Jackie's gonna kill me for telling you guys this."

Mu had heard what Bulkhead said over his own headset that Ratchet had given to all the Autobots' new friends, and he quickly made sure that his brooding friend was unable to hear anything. When he was certain, he turned his attention back to the conversation, and the resulting story that Bulkhead had begun to share. "Today's actually not a day that Jackie likes to remember, because a few years back before we left Cybertron, on this exact day, Jackie lost the most important thing in his life cycle."

"What happened," Sai asked, suddenly feeling certain that this was one Wrecker tale that he would definitely not like.

Bulkhead took a deep breath as he continued. "Around a couple of years after he joined the Wreckers, Jackie met this femme named Glyph, and well he fell for her hard. She was one of the Bots in the unit that was directly under Elita One's command at the time, and she was hard core enough to be a Wrecker. Jackie was instantly helm over pedes for her when he first saw her, which was after he saved a small group in her unit single-handedly, but no matter what he said, Glyph was not impressed. Even so, as you've probably seen Jackie doesn't give up that easily and was more than determined to get her to go on at least one date with him. It wasn't until she ended up being transferred to the Wreckers, making her the first femme on the Wreckers that she said yes. After that, the two of them had an…interesting relationship to say the least. Some days it was hard to tell if they were together or not given how their arguments sometimes got, but even so no one could deny that they had a thing for each other. Eventually, Jackie decided to take the big step and propose, but before he could, the Wreckers received an assignment that led them into a faceoff with what some Bots called the Decepticon countermeasure to the Wreckers, the Decimators."

"Like the Wreckers, the Decimators handle more high risk missions for the 'Cons and they have been known for making sure that there was usually nothing left of whoever they fought against. The worst thing of all is that if a Bot does survive an encounter with the Decimators, they usually end up changed forever, and not in a good way."

"Yeah I remember that day all too well," Hound cut in, adding his two cents. "Those fragging Decimators ambushed us as soon as they had the chance, and we all had to give it everything we had. Most of the fight was a blur for us but whenever we think back to it we remember it being nothing less than a brutal brawl that you would expect from savage animals. Wheeljack did more damage to them than any of us, but once the battle was over, we thought we had them running off like cowards, but that was before we took notice of the number of casualties we had taken from that battle."

"And among those casualties was Glyph," Bulkhead finished. "Jackie broke down completely. To this day, I have never seen Jackie more shattered than he was back then. Ever since, Wheeljack had sworn to not get as close to anyone as he had Glyph ever again and went more lone wolf on even the Wreckers, which led to some of his most notable accomplishments. It was a long time before we got Jackie to at least let go of it a little, but even so, every year when this time comes around he can't help but remember what had happened to Glyph, or the fact that he swore on her life that he would bring down the Con who took her from him."

As Bulkhead finished his story, Mu and Murdoch found themselves agreeing with Sai's earlier sentiment on this being a Wrecker story they would not like. They had all considered Wheeljack to be one of the toughest, and yet most easygoing Autobots there was, and to hear that he went through something so horrible gave them all a lot to think about in reference to the sword wielding Autobot.

Being the one who was actually riding with Wheeljack, Mu found himself in a rather awkward position, because now he wanted to try and do what he could to cheer Wheeljack up but he was not sure how to do so. He had not forgotten how he tried to make the people of Tassil feel better and ended up putting his foot in his mouth as he got everyone upset with him. Still he felt he should say something to Wheeljack, but at the same time he knew that if he said the wrong thing it could make things worse. _How do I get myself into these situations_, the commander ended up thinking to himself.

Everyone was soon brought out of there musings though when the Autobots' sensors all started going off, indicating that a team of Decepticons was nearby. "Wheeljack, do you see anything from where you are," Hound called out.

"Not yet," Wheeljack answered. "But to be on the safe side, I'm gonna move to cover and get some higher ground just to be safe."

"Roger that, we'll be right behind you in a moment."

With that said, everyone quickly moved to a cliff top and made their way to the edge of said cliff as they started to scope out the area, with the Wreckers now in robot mode. As they surveyed the area, Mu, Sai, and Murdoch saw something through the binoculars that Mu had brought along with him. Not wanting to raise alarm unless it was necessary, he zoomed in on the point and saw the familiar sight of Z.A.F.T. red uniforms. "Hey guys, we've got Z.A.F.T. soldiers in the area over that way," Mu alerted them.

Everyone looked in the direction that Mu had indicated and saw the three Z.A.F.T. soldiers sitting on the side of the road, but there was something strange about the whole thing. A matter Bulkhead voiced for them as he wondered, "What are they doing just sitting there? And watching an apparently busy street that we know for a fact shouldn't be busy period?"

Bulkhead was right, as the three were just watching cars pass in a fashion more suitable for a freeway than the all-but-abandoned road that they were traveling on. How that paradox was possible did not make any sense until they saw a strange set of three vehicles starting to smash their way through the strangely busy street, destroying every vehicle they came across. That was when it struck them. "Those three vehicles are 'Cons," Hound whispered. "They must be running some kind of undercover combat exercise."

"Makes sense," Bulkhead replied. "Given the choice of vehicle modes that those three have they would be some of the ideal choices for tackling an undercover assignment on Earth." He then noticed that their little simulation had ended and the three Cons had transformed to robot mode. The three seemed familiar to Bulkhead, but he could not quite place it. He was about to Wheeljack if he recognized them when he saw that his friend was shaking in anger. "Uh Jackie," Bulkhead asked cautiously. "You okay?"

"No Bulk I'm not," Wheeljack snarled. "But I will be in a moment."

"Why's that," Hound asked, worry more than evident in his tone.

"It's him you guys," Wheeljack replied. "It's the fragging 'Con who stole Glyph from me. It's Barricade!"

That was when it all clicked for the Wreckers, the three Cons were as Wheeljack had identified, Barricade and the Decimators. Before anyone could say anything though, Wheeljack had already engaged his battle mask, whipped out his swords from the holsters on his back and jumped down the mountain towards the three Decepticons, with a look of vengeance in his eyes.

That got the attention of the three members of the Zala team, as they spun around and saw the sword wielding Autobot charging towards them. "Still think we've got nothing to worry about silver scar," Jaylen asked Yzak rhetorically.

Yzak just growled at her as he had to concede her point, and since none of the three of them had their mobile suits with them, there was nothing they could do. That was when the Autobot landed on the ground in front of them with a loud crash, and as soon as the black and white Con that was a police car just a moment ago got a good look at who their opponent was, he simply chuckled, "Well, well, well this is a surprise. Gentlemen I'm sure you remember Wheeljack?"

The other two chuckled lightly at Barricade's comment. A moment later Barricade ordered, "Kill him."

"The only one who's gonna be killed here today is you BARRICADE," Wheeljack shouted as he charged in. Wheeljack's swords were quickly met by Barricade's fist as he brought out a pair of Cybertronian nun-chucks. The two were quickly going at it hard, nearly matching one and other blow for blow but to others it was clear that Wheeljack was not getting an upper hand easily.

Seeing his friend in trouble, Bulkhead began to move in to help his friend, but before he could he and the others on the cliff were being fired upon from above. They all looked up to see that the helicopter was firing down on them and was preparing an EMP grenade for launch, giving the Bots his identity in no time at all. "It's Blackout," Bulkhead cried out as he started returning fire with his default blaster.

Hound looked and saw the dump truck 'Con was quickly moving to fire on them as well. Readying his own default cannon, Hound shouted out to Bulkhead, "Bulk, Junkheap is headed our way! I'll handle him, can you take care of Blackout?"

"Just go Hound," Bulkhead replied. "I've got this!"

Hound nodded and then quickly moved to intercept Junkheap, firing as he went. In no time at all, the three Wreckers were going toe-to-toe with all three of their opponents. Hound threw a punch that was quickly countered by Junkheap despite his large size, and then found himself getting knocked back by Junkheap's large claw that acted as his right hand. Bulkhead was doing his best to avoid Blackout's ability to shut down enemy weapons for a brief time while he returned fire on the helicopter Decepticon. Both of them were showing Sai, Mu, and Murdoch quite clearly why the Decimators were called the Decepticons' countermeasure for the Wreckers, because they had seen the three Autobots handle larger numbers with ease, and these three Decepticons were matching them like it was second nature.

Sai felt helpless just sitting there watching, but then he noticed that the three Z.A.F.T. soldiers seemed to be moving somewhere. At first he figured they were just moving out of the way, but then Sai saw them grab some sophisticated looking guns and start firing on their Autobot friends. To his surprise, the Autobots actually seemed to be getting hurt by the weapons that the Z.A.F.T. soldiers were firing. He then let both of the adult men know what he had saw, and as soon as he did, Mu quickly stated, "Okay you guys, we need to get down there and stop them. Our guys are already having a hard time as it is so we need to get the playing field as even as we can get it to be again."

"Hey hold up a second," Murdoch then called out, getting their attention. "Where'd Wheeljack go?"

Sai and Mu both looked and saw that Wheeljack had in fact disappeared. After looking around for another moment, Mu saw that Wheeljack was in pursuit of Barricade in vehicle mode, which told him one thing. Barricade was trying to lure Wheeljack into a trap. Mu knew that he could not catch up to them on foot, but at the same time he could not get a ride from Hound or Bulkhead, that was when he saw that the Z.A.F.T. soldiers had brought motorcycles, indicating that they had not Ground Bridged directly here.

"I'll go after Wheeljack," Mu then stated as he started running over to grab one of those bikes. "You two help the other Wreckers. This is one time that I think that the Wreckers want to call for backup."

Sai and Murdoch just nodded to each other, seeing that Mu was already practically there and ran to confront the three members of the Zala team. As soon as he was close enough, Sai threw as hard a punch as he could, which hit Yzak right in the face, sending him to the ground as he dropped his weapon. Sai moved quickly to grab the gun before Yzak could, and then hit the scarred man on the head with the butt of the weapon, knocking him out.

Nicol saw this and moved to start shooting at Sai, only to be tackled by Murdoch. "Get off me," Nicol shouted as the two started to wrestle against each other in the desert sand.

"Not a chance ya little brat," Murdoch roared as he threw a punch at the green haired boy.

Sai would have moved to help, but he found himself moving to cover as Jaylen started shooting at him. Having never handled a gun before, Sai did not want to risk using the one he now held only to shoot his eye out. As he did, he noticed that the case the three had pulled the weapons from was unguarded, as Jaylen had moved away while she was shooting to get Yzak's unconscious form out of harm's way.

Making a split decision, Sai quickly pointed his gun towards the crate of weapons, and fired off a few shots. Seeing as it was his first time shooting a gun, his shots were rather sloppy, but even so they were not so sloppy that they ended up hitting far away from his target. Most of his shots had ended up hitting the crate and a few moments later, the whole thing exploded, preventing Jaylen and the others from getting new guns. Smiling to himself for his accomplishment, Sai quickly ducked back down to avoid being hit by Jaylen who had resumed trying to shoot him directly instead of just shooting covering fire at him. As he hid, he noticed that Murdoch was still slugging it out with Nicol, and knew from the look on the engineer's face, that Murdoch was just as worried about Wheeljack and the commander as he was.

* * *

When Barricade pulled a fast one on him to cover an escape, Wheeljack's anger had skyrocketed, and he immediately took off after the object of his vengeance in vehicle mode. At that point, Wheeljack did not even care what happened or if he was driving into a trap, because all he cared about was ending Barricade once and for all. This explained the only thought running through his mind at the moment. _He's not getting away! Not this time!_

Barricade was smirking to himself as Wheeljack chased him, mentally begging the Autobot to keep coming after him as he shouted out, "So the big tough Wheeljack considers little me as an important target huh? Or are you still upset about that little run in we had years ago? By the way how's your little girlfriend?"

"A lot better than you'll be when I get my hands on you ya fragging murder," Wheeljack snapped. Wheeljack then decided to put metal to the pedal and charged after Barricade with every ounce of speed his vehicle mode had to offer. Despite the fact that his mind was mostly clouded with rage, Wheeljack was extremely grateful that this road was straight and narrow for the most part, and rarely had that many sharp or steep turns that would have caused him to slow down. That quickly changed when Barricade swerved off to the side and Wheeljack saw that the police car Decepticon had led him right towards a sharp turn that would divert cars away from the face of a mountain. Wheeljack did not even have enough time to hit the brakes before he collided with the rock wall.

Barricade quickly transformed and laughed manically at the crashed Wrecker, "Well looks like the Wreckers are just as good at wrecking themselves as they are others. What's the matter _Jackie_, still too sad and broken up over your girl to fight back with your usual ferocity? Ha! Like you could ever really match us Decepticons. I knew all those stories about your so-called victories were over exaggerated."

He would have continued, but he felt something hit his head as the sound of a gun shot rang out. Turning towards the source, he saw Mu racing down the street towards them, his hand gun pulled out as he shot at Barricade. Normally Barricade would have scoffed at the pathetic attempt to injure him, but then one of Mu's shots hit him in his eye, causing him to cry out in pain and run for cover as he tried to make it stop.

Seeing that his the Decepticon who dared to take on the form of a peacekeeper's vehicle had moved out of the way and taken cover for the moment, Mu quickly pulled the borrowed motorcycle to a stop as he ran over to where Wheeljack had crashed. "Wheeljack," Mu called out. "You okay? Answer me Wheeljack!"

A moment later, the tell-tale sound of a Cybertronian transforming sounded and Wheeljack burst out of the rumble. Mu smiled in relief but when he saw Wheeljack's face, he knew that if Wheeljack was mad before, then he was beyond pissed at this point. Wheeljack looked around and saw where Barricade had run off to, but before the sword wielding Autobot could move more than a few steps in that direction Mu stopped him as he shouted out, "Wheeljack stop! You're going to get yourself killed if you keep this up!"

"Fine, then it'll be worth it," Wheeljack hollered in reply. "I'm not stopping until there's nothing left of that lousy 'Con!"

"Wheeljack, if you keep letting your anger control you like this, then you'll just be playing right into Barricade's hands!"

"SHUT UP! HE DESERVES THIS AND MORE!" Mu just looked on at Wheeljack in shock, as he had never seen any of the Autobots so angry before. If Wheeljack expected him to him to back down though, then the Autobot was quickly disappointed as Mu stood his ground and leveled a hard stare with Wheeljack.

"I get how you feel Wheeljack," Mu told him in a calm, neutral tone. "I've got an enemy that I want to finish off once and for all myself, but I don't let him get to me like your letting Barricade get to you. I try my best to play it cool and keep my emotions in check, only letting them out when I face him when it's absolutely necessary, because otherwise I know that I'll be letting him win if I take him down in the state that you're currently in. So, what are you going to do Jackie, are you going to let him win by letting him dictate how things go, or are you gonna do what an Autobot would do, and what Glyph would want you to do?"

When he heard Mu say those words, Wheeljack instantly started to cool down from his enraged state. Thinking of Glyph, he knew that she would not want him to let Barricade or any of his enemies get the better him like this. He quickly realized that he was acting more like a Decepticon instead of the Autobot he was. With this revelation in mind, Wheeljack made his decision.

"Aw how sweet," Barricade called out, leading both Autobot and Earth Forces soldier to spin around and see him climbing out of his hiding place, holding the left side of his face. "Little _Jackie_ needs his pet human to make him feel better does he? How about I show him what happens to the ones who get close to you?"

Before Barricade could raise his free arm to arm his arm blaster, Wheeljack had beat him to the punch and fired his own blaster at Barricade, sending him to the ground. Wheeljack then slowly walked over as he pulled his swords out once more and stated in a soft, dangerous tone, "You're not hurting any of my or anyone's friends and loved ones ever again, because if I don't take you down alone, then my new partner and I will be taking you down together, right Mu?"

Mu smirked in reply as he reloaded his gun and grinned, "You know it Jackie."

A moment later, Mu had moved to higher ground and commenced shooting at Barricade, trying to give him more of a distraction than what he already was dealing with after losing the use of one eye and hopefully get lucky enough to hit another soft spot. Wheeljack took advantage of Barricade's current lack of sight in his left eye and made sure to stay on the 'Con's left side with both his movements and attacks as much as possible.

Needless to say, Barricade found himself quickly overwhelmed and needed a way to get away. Thinking quickly, Barricade slammed a fist into the mountain side, causing an avalanche that was headed in Mu's direction. He smirked to himself as he got what little of a glimpse he could of this as he mocked Wheeljack, "What now Wheeljack? You still gonna choose to be the pathetic weak Autobot and let me get away in order to save him or are you gonna end this at the cost of his life?"

"That's an easy choice," Wheeljack stated as he holstered his swords and ran towards Mu. With one mighty leap, Wheeljack scooped Mu up into his hands and transformed to vehicle mode after he rolled across the ground and raced out of the way of the falling rocks.

As Wheeljack screeched to a stop on the road, he saw a Ground Bridge closing and he called out, "This isn't over Barricade! Even if I have to chase you to the ends of the universe I will make sure that your spark is extinguished once and for all for every single Bot you've ended including Glyph!"

He then let out a breath that he did not know he was holding and told Mu, "Thanks for watching my back partner."

"Anytime," Mu shrugged. "Now let's go help the others. After all we can't let your fellow Wreckers go it alone for long."

"You know it, after all Wreckers don't call for backup," Wheeljack started.

"They call for clean up," the two shouted simultaneously, and he could have, Wheeljack would have exchanged a fist bump with Mu, but instead he opted for revving his engines and racing off back towards the others.

* * *

Sai was now considering this to be just as a bad a day for him as it was for Wheeljack. Okay maybe not as bad as that, but when you are getting shot at in the middle of a desert, with giant alien robot warriors slugging it out nearby, and the only backup you have is an old mechanic who was still wrestling on the ground with a green haired enemy soldier, you tend to really not care! While Murdoch was slugging it out with said green haired youth, Sai was still pinned down by the enemy fire that Jaylen was sending his way. Needless to say Sai was really wishing that Wheeljack and Mu were there with them right then.

Jaylen was not that much happier, as every time she paused for a moment, her glasses wearing opponent would start shooting back. It was clear by his shooting that he was an amateur, but that did not stop his shots from coming a little too close for comfort for Jaylen. The reason she paused so often, aside from reloading the weapon, was that she was doing everything she could to wake up Yzak. "Come on Silver Scar! Snap out of it already," she shouted as she slapped him for the umpteenth time. Honestly she was starting to consider trying a sleeping beauty approach and kissing him to wake him up. The keywords being "starting to" and "consider", as in she was not actually planning to do so anytime soon.

Bulkhead and Hound were not feeling all that well off themselves. Every time they got close to putting a decent hurt on Blackout and Junkheap respectively, something happened that turned it around. Bulkhead had been able to get Blackout grounded, but as a result he had to deal with the flying Decimator's copter blades. Hound's problem was that Junkheap had a lot of weapons in the trunk on his back from his dump truck mode which he kept pulling out and seemed to replace themselves so long as he was able to scope something up and store into his back. Needless to say, being a Bot down when facing the Decimators was not a good situation for the Wreckers.

Finally Murdoch was able to knock Nicol away from him and swipe his weapon from him. He growled a bit when Nicol hit him with a nasty left hook, but had to admit, "I'll say this much for ya kid. Ya throw a good punch."

Nicol let out a small smile at that. "You're not so bad a fighter yourself for an old Natural," he commented.

"Hey who're you callin' old!"

Nicol just chuckled before he asked, "So are you really a soldier on the Legged Ship?"

Now it was Murdoch's turn to chuckle. "Nah kid. I'm not a soldier on the _Archangel_. I'm an engineer." With that said the two were soon slugging it out once again, something that was not left unnoticed by Sai, who growled in annoyance at Murdoch's need to continue fighting with the green haired Z.A.F.T. soldier.

As soon as he ducked behind cover again after firing a few rounds from his gun, Sai reached up and tapped his comm. link and shouted into it, "Commander, if you and Wheeljack would be so kind, we could really use some help here NOW!"

_"__Relax kid,"_ Commander La Flaga replied. _"Haven't you noticed, you're working with the man who can make the impossible possible and the Autobots who don't call for backup…"_

The sound of an engine drove everyone's attention towards the source, and what they saw shocked both the Decimators and the conscious Z.A.F.T. soldiers while the Autobots, Sai, and Murdoch all grinned widely or gained similar expressions of joy. Racing down the street and transforming a moment later to throw a double slash with his swords at Junkheap sending the large garbage truck Decepticon down to the ground hard, was Wheeljack as he finished what Mu's earlier statement saying, "They call for clean up!"

With Wheeljack's return to the current battlefield, and showing signs of being back to his old self, the Wreckers found their morale up to new levels that allowed them to quickly turn the tide of the battle to their side. Junkheap tried to recover and reached for his trunk backpack for another weapon only pull out an active grenade to which he looked at Wheeljack, who was smirking with pride, and simply commented, "Uh oh."

The next thing that anyone knew, Junkheap had been knocked out cold by the explosion of Wheeljack's grenade. Blackout noticed this and quickly transformed to his helicopter mode once again and laid down a set of aerial covering fire as he flew over to pull Junkheap out his situation. Yzak then chose that moment to finally wake up, and needless to say, he was pissed with the situation as he quickly tapped his comm. link and shouted, "Yzak Joule to whoever the hell controls that blasted Ground Bridge! We need a Ground Bridge out of here now!"

A moment later, the Decepticon Ground Bridge opened and Blackout swiftly carried Junkheap through, with Yzak, Jaylen, and Nicol not too far behind them. As the six heroes watched them leave, they ceased firing and holstered their respective weapons and then all but Mu turned to look at Wheeljack. The only one who dared ask the question the question they were all wondering was Bulkhead. "Uh Jackie…you doin' okay now?"

Wheeljack looked from his Wrecker friends and comrades, to Sai and Murdoch, to Mu La Flaga, and finally let his gaze drift to everyone as he smiled and stated, "Yeah Bulk I'm good. Course I would've been a lot worse off if it weren't for a guy who can make the impossible possible, and who I'm now considering to be like my new partner as an honorary Wrecker."

Mu smiled in appreciation for that as Wheeljack gave him a small wink while Bulkhead and Hound simply gave one and other a relieved shrug while Murdoch and Sai both gave an impressed smile to La Flaga, knowing they'd have quite the story to tell the others back at the _Archangel_ when they got back. Before that though, there was something they all knew they had to talk with Ratchet and probably Erica Simmons about when they got back to Orb, and Sai was still holding it in his hands.

* * *

"Hm, interesting. Very interesting," Ratchet mumbled as he scanned the weapon that Sai, Murdoch, La Flaga, and the Wreckers brought back. Though she would have used other words to describe her own fascination with the Z.A.F.T. weapon, Erica had to agree with Ratchet's sentiment.

"Hey Doc, mind tellin' us what's so interesting about this weapon that was actually able to hurt us," Wheeljack asked, starting to get slightly annoyed, but not as upset as he was that morning, which everyone had noted.

"This weapon is actually made with Cybertronian technology and Z.A.F.T. technology," Ratchet answered. "In fact from what Erica and I have seen of the ammunition pack, it would seem to use the same energon ammunition packs that our own weapons use."

"So the 'Cons are helping Z.A.F.T. make sure they're geared up for fighting us in and out of their mobile suits," Bulkhead asked.

"Yeah that certainly seems to be the case," Erica confirmed. "And there's no telling what else they'll be coming up with at this rate if this rifle is any indication."

"Do you think we can reverse engineer it and make our own versions of the things," Ironhide asked.

"Theoretically we might be able to but it will take some time," Ratchet replied.

"Then I suggest that you get to work on doing so as quickly as possible," Optimus stated. "If the Decepticons are aiding the Z.A.F.T. forces in creating new armaments with Cybertronian technology then we cannot allow our own allies to be unprepared for whatever effect these weapons may have on humans whether it involved prolonged exposure or simply being hit by one. We are fortunate that none of our human friends were harmed by these weapons themselves."

Ratchet and Erica nodded, as they knew Optimus was right and both set to work right away with the analysis of the weapon, and with planning out when they would be able to do further work with the weapon.

The Wreckers then turned to their human partners for this past mission, and Wheeljack smiled and said, "Come on you guys. Let's get some lobbing done. We're gonna need some referees after all."

Mu, Sai, and Murdoch all grinned in excitement and raced over to both referee and watch the favorite past time of the warrior class Cybertronian soldiers. As he went, Wheeljack told Mu, "You know, if you ever decide to switch from mobile armor to mobile suit pilot, you'd make that much more of a fine Wrecker."

Mu smiled as he paused to reply, "You know I might just consider doing that, and I may be able to give you a few tips on how to fight with your vehicle mode as effectively as the best mobile armor pilots. I should know about that seeing as I am one of those best."

Wheeljack chuckled and stopped in his tracks for a moment as he stated, "Hey in all seriousness though, thanks for what you said and did out there today. It really…well…"

Mu just gave the Wrecker a thumbs up as he replied, "Hey anytime. Gotta watch out for my new wingman don't I?"

Wheeljack nodded in reply. He then grabbed the lobbing ball and cried out, "Now then, think fast Bulk!"

He then chucked the large metal ball as hard as he could towards his brother like figure. Bulkhead tried to catch it but it slipped through his fingers and hit a tool on Ratchet's work table with a loud crash, getting the medical Autobot's attention. Ratchet then turned to the six which led the two new partners and wingmen to point to Bulkhead and shout out, "He did it!"

Ratchet did not need anyone to specify who really did it as he shouted out, for the umpteenth time that day alone, "Wheeljack I needed that!"

"You know sometimes I can't help but wonder if he really always needs whatever tool they happen to break or if it's become something he says on reflex," Murdoch commented, leading the Wreckers and the other two humans in his group to laugh aloud at this.

* * *

Yzak, Jaylen, and Nicol all stood at attention before the holographic representation of Megatron as they reported on both the Decimators' efforts in the simulations that day and on the battle that they had with the Wreckers and their human partners. Megatron was not happy about the fact that the Autobots were able to obtain one of Z.A.F.T.'s experimental energon rifles, and the fact that Barricade had lost use of one of his eyes did little alleviate his bad mood. He then sighed as he asked, "And your opinions on the Decimators?"

Yzak stepped forward for a moment and requested, "Permission to speak freely Lord Megatron?"

"Make certain that you choose your words carefully all the same Yzak Joule," Megatron warned him.

Yzak nodded in reply as he gave his report. "Speaking personally, I think they're all a load of loose cannons that would sooner blow an entire undercover operation than actually give a damn about maintaining cover. Their combat abilities in vehicle form were impressive, but they almost always moved to engage prematurely before they received a signal. However, speaking professionally, I do believe that they have potential and that they would benefit from working with a preexisting unit that is already on Earth."

Megatron gave a small pause for a moment as he thought over Yzak's words and then finally chuckled a bit as he stated, "You appear to have the analytical mind of a potential future military leader Yzak Joule." He then glanced at Jaylen and Nicol as he asked, "Is that sentiment shared by the two of you as well?"

When the two nodded in affirmative reply Megatron then nodded as he stated, "Very well, then inform Dreadwing that I will be having Barricade and the Decimators joining him with your team as soon as Knockout has cleared them for active duty once more. I believe that having the added might of the Decimators will provide quite the amount of extra muscle that you will need in your next engagement with the Legged Ship and Prime's ship."

"Understood sir," Yzak replied, clearly taken aback by that as he did not mean for them to be assigned to the unit he was already serving in, but at the same time he was not complaining. There was just something about the Decimators that Yzak had to admit he liked.

* * *

**_AN: I'll be honest, I always kind of wondered what a Decepticon version of the Wreckers would be like ever since I first heard of the Autobots Black Ops unit and I figured I'd at least try to put that in this story as I was working on it. It was a little difficult coming up with members for it, but it was more of a challenge coming up with a name for such a group that I thought would work. In the end Decimators seemed like the best thing. As for the whole thing with Wheeljack, well I always figured that Wheeljack could've used both more screen time on Transformers Prime, but even so he was this complex guy who simply preferred to do things the way he figured worked best so I thought I'd dive a little more into his character this time around. Wow first I give Arcee a sister, then I make Wheeljack turn into a brooding, moody hero on a specific day of the year because he lost the one he lost most. Makes you wonder how many Autobots I'm gonna set up with similar back stories like that and how many will have such serious arch nemesis, but then again it is pretty cool to give a serious arch nemesis to the other Autobots and not just leave it at Optimus and Megatron being the only ones with a serious arch enemy relationship a majority of the time. Oh and just so you know, the poll's done for good, as I've now got a basic idea for how I want things in the Orb Missions Arc to pan out and how everything will get setup for later on down the line so look forward to it. _**

**_Also, in case you didn't see the note at the beginning, I've now posted a teaser for my next Gundam crossover story and I'd like everyone's thoughts on it, or simply if your excited about it, please post reviews for that teaser story if you want to tell me what you think and whether or not you think I should get started on it right away. Anyways, onto the preview..._**

**_A simple cave exploration mission to locate a possible new energon mine goes wrong, as Ratchet and Jazz are trapped underground with Natarle Badgiruel and Murrue Ramius. But is this cave in due to natural causes, or is something else down there with them? And just what will Murrue and Natarle discover about themselves and each other while trapped underground with two Autobots that are probably the most similar to them? Next time on Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Prime…_****Chapter 15: Cave Crawlers****_. Hunt down the mysteries that lie beneath Murrue, Natarle, Jazz, and Ratchet!_**

**_Read and review please, and I'll see you next time! Same Gundam/Transformers channel, same Gundam/Transformers time!...Sorry couldn't resist_**


	15. 15: Cave Crawlers

_**AN: Ladies and gentlemen, the team-up of Murrue Ramius and Natarle Badgiruel is here, and it will speed certain events of Gundam SEED up so that they happen sooner, okay an event, but it will also give you something that I think all of us we're expecting to happen somewhere in the time that Murrue and Natarle we're together aboard the **_**Archangel_ so without further ado...the halfway point of Orb Missions Arc, and yes there are only three more of these chapters to go including the next chapter before we get back to the Gundam SEED side of the story._**

**_I do not own anything from either the Gundam or Transformers franchises_**

* * *

**Chapter 15: Cave Crawlers**

Things had become rather quiet and dull around the Autobot base as of late. With both the _Archangel_ and the _Omega II_ nearly fully repaired, and Kira's work with Morgenroete almost finished, the crew of the Earth Forces ship were working overtime to make sure that they did not miss anything before they headed back out of Orb Waters and off to Alaska and the Autobots were facing a big question of their own. That question the Autobots were facing was whether or not they remain in Orb or go to Alaska aboard the _Omega II_ with the _Archangel_, something that the Autobots were finding hard to answer and with very good reason.

Dreadwing's unit of Decepticons were still out there and more than likely working with the Z.A.F.T. team that piloted the stolen G-Weapons and Optimus felt that he and his team needed to make sure that they were safe. When he voiced his concerns, most of the Autobots that had been with himself and the _Archangel_ since their time in Africa agreed that they should travel with the _Archangel_ over the sea aboard the _Omega II_, including Bumblebee naturally. That did not mean that there were not some objections to the idea, as the rest of them argued that they could simply give the _Archangel_ a special transmitter to contact them for help and Ground Bridge to help the Earth Forces ship if they needed to, the leader of this argument being Ratchet. Now do not misunderstand, Ratchet wanted make sure that their new human friends were able to safely make it to the Earth Forces Alaska base just as much as the others, but he was more concerned about his fellow Autobots' safety than he was a few humans that they had only met a few months ago.

The matter was not something that was being discussed by the Autobots alone though, as members of the crew of the _Archangel_ was either wondering what the Autobots' plans involving them were or were just trying to think on whether or not they should bring the Autobots with them to Alaska by force if necessary. The ones at the head of the later discussion more specifically were Lieutenant Junior Grade Natarle Badgiruel and Lieutenant Commander Murrue Ramius, as the latter wanted to respect whatever decision the Autobots made while the former wanted to use whatever force was necessary to bring them along. Natarle and Murrue had both made enough mentions of the Autobots in their reports, which meant that, as Natarle had stated multiple times, they had to at least speak with command about them and more than likely meet them.

This argument between the two was getting to be something that they would get into quite often as of late. In fact it happened so often that they went into it even while they were simply just walking down the hallway and happened to bump into one another. The most recent round of this debate was happening right now in the Autobot base as they were visiting with Kira, Mu La Flaga, Cagalli, and Miriallia. Needless to say, everyone was getting more than a little annoyed with the two and they all knew for a fact that this argument was about to bring every last bit of tension between the two to a head.

"I really must insist. We have no choice but to bring them with us. Not only have they fought with us but they have asked for services that require our aid and technology, namely the that of Strike," Natarle told Murrue.

"Even so, we can't just order them to come with us," Murrue argued. "They aren't a part of the Earth Forces military and they also aren't even of our world so who's to say what rules apply to them?"

"That's even more reason why they need to be brought with us! They're aliens so there are no rules in our military or even our world that apply to them or protect them so what is to stop us from forcing them to come with us? More importantly who's to say that they won't turn on us as soon as they don't need us anymore?"

"Lieutenant Junior Grade Badgiruel you are out of line!"

Natarle could feel her anger with Murrue rising more and more every minute. "Well forgive me if I don't see any reason for letting them just wander around free and doing whatever they think they can as they have been doing!"

Now Murrue was normally very calm, but Natarle was finally trying her patience to its limits. "Alright then Natarle. Drop the rank, the regulations, and everything else and let's hear exactly what you really think."

Natarle took a moment to process what the _Archangel_'s captain had just said to her, and finally just nodded. The next thing that happened was not entirely unexpected but still surprising all the same. Natarle hit Murrue in the face. _Hard_. Before anyone knew it, the two clearly pissed off female officers were engaged in full on brawl on the deck of the raised platform of the central hub.

Not wanting this to continue, for the sake of the two women and everyone else there, Mu decided to break their fight up before it got more serious than need be. Not that he did not enjoy watching a good cat fight any less than the next person, but this was not the time or place for it and they were supposed to be better than this. "Hey you two come on! Break it up," Mu called out as he tried to reach out to stop them.

This proved to be a bad idea, as he received an elbow to his face for his efforts. Kira, Cagalli, and the others all ran over to help him up as he groaned at himself for his stupidity. Before anyone else could move to stop them, Mu raised a hand and said, "If you really need a better reason to understand why hell hath no fury than a woman scorned, then by all means be my guest."

Needless to say, the kids all stayed right where they were and just watched as the two commanding officers of the _Archangel_ fought with each other. Even Cagalli was afraid of moving to try and stop them surprisingly. It would have continued had a pair of large hands not scooped up Murrue and Badgiruel like a pair of rag dolls and held them apart from one another as they continued thrashing around trying to get at them. Those hands belonging to a certain Autobot first lieutenant.

"Put me down Jazz! Let me at her," Murrue shouted, making it crystal clear that she was not even close to starting to cool down.

"I'm surprised you'd even want to take such action _Captain_," Natarle spat.

"Alright both of ya'll just chill out and shut the Pits up for Primus's sake," Jazz shouted angrily. That caused the entire room to go silent save for the computer and other equipment that was running. Never once had any of the humans seen Jazz anything remotely close to angry, but the Autobots who knew him understood that it took a lot to make Jazz actually angry and it seemed that the two Earth Forces soldiers had crossed that threshold. "You seriously think that any of this will solve anything?! You're both on the same damn side so ya can either chill and act like adults or ya can keep fighting each other and acting like a pair of sparklings both on this matter and everything else you two have an issue over!"

"Considering what that issue is I'm surprised that you aren't involving yourself in their fight Jazz," Ratchet muttered. Unfortunately, he was not quite enough for Jazz to not hear.

"Doc, now's not the time," Jazz warned.

"If anything now's exactly the time," Ratchet told him. "I mean given what just happened how can any of you support the idea of traveling with them? Just for the sole purpose of stopping one Decepticon unit? We're facing our own war against the entire Decepticon army! We can't concern ourselves with a single human ship and whether or not it and its massive weapon arrive at its destination!"

Jazz would have said something had Optimus not stepped in and spoken up. "I understand what you are saying old friend, and if the circumstances were different then I might agree with you. However I am afraid that I must argue your point. We have already brought our new friends into our war and their enemies have allied with our own. Can we truly allow them to face such danger alone?"

Ratchet and everyone in the room was immediately silenced with much more to think about in the case of the Autobots traveling to Alaska with the _Archangel_. Everyone would have thought on it a little more had the Autobots' scanner not started going off. Ratchet immediately ran over to see what they had picked up. "It seems we're picking up signs of…an untapped energon mine!"

"You sure 'bout that Ratchet," Jazz asked. "I mean just about every energon supply that we've picked up on had already been seized by the 'Cons or Z.A.F.T."

"I'm absolutely certain," Ratchet answered as he typed some in commands. "And here's something that you'll find surprising. It's in the Earth Forces' territory."

"That's a first," Arcee commented, and with good reason. As Arcee had stated, most of the sources of energon that the Autobots picked up on had been in either Z.A.F.T. territory or in neutral territory so the Bots were either unable to do much or were just simply not able to get there soon enough. The fact that it was in the territory of the forces that the _Archangel_'s crew served under was a welcome surprise.

"We cannot risk Megatron seizing this energon source before we do," Optimus stated. "If we do not act now then there may be a chance that Earth Forces soldiers will be harmed or killed by the Decepticons."

"And if we get spotted by any Earth Forces soldiers there's a chance they may mistake us for enemies," Arcee pointed out.

"In that case you should let some of us go with you just in case that does happen," Mu stated.

Kira nodded in agreement at that as he stated, "Commander La Flaga and I can go with whoever you send out Optimus."

"Actually Kira I was thinking of having Captain Ramius and Lieutenant Badgiruel go out," Mu stated. That got everyone's attention.

"Uh Commander," Miriallia inquired, voicing everyone's thoughts. "Are you sure that's a good idea given the circumstances?"

"Of course. After all what better way to work out your differences than going on a small assignment together right?"

Optimus nodded in agreement. "Very well. Ratchet, you and Jazz will head to the coordinates of the energon reading with Captain Ramius and Lieutenant Badgiruel accompanying you. Arcee shall man the Ground Bridge until you return."

Arcee nodded and moved to relieve Ratchet of his position as Jazz moved to get a Scatter Blaster from the base's weapons locker. Ratchet however, was a bit hesitant to move. "Optimus, I believe my efforts and skills would be better suited remaining here."

"Be that as it may my friend, I feel that perhaps the fact you have been in this base for so long has caused you to lose sight of why we must fight with humanity and what we are fighting for," Optimus told him.

Now Ratchet may be an old Bot, but he is a reasonable one as well and he knew when he was not going to win an argument, and that fact was especially true when it came to arguments with Optimus. With that said, Ratchet just sighed and gave a simple yes sir in reply to Optimus's order as he moved to the weapons locker as well. A few minutes later Jazz and Ratchet were both equipped with a Scatter Blaster and an Energon Repair Ray respectively and Natarle and Murrue were both given a comm. link headset and an energon pistol each. Since the Wreckers' mission with Sai, Mu, and Murdoch in which they had brought back one of Z.A.F.T.'s new energon rifles, Erica and Ratchet had been working on designing their own versions of the weapons after they determined they were safe to use and even diversifying them so that it was not just a rifle that they would have had to carry on their backs.

Now that the team was fully equipped for action, the four moved to the Ground Bridge to prepare for departure. One command for Ground Bridge activation later and the team was quickly racing through the green vortex and on sight at the entrance to a cave that was clearly the source of the energon signal. After getting an all clear from Natarle and Murrue, Ratchet and Jazz transformed to robot mode and moved into the cave with scanners in hand.

For some time the team searched the cave for the energon source in a silence. Now if one were actually present they would have a hard time being able to tell you if it was an awkward silence or a tense one, because the two Earth Forces soldiers had a hard time looking directly at one and other without the glance turning into a glare and Jazz was not sure if he and Ratchet should try to do something. Finally the two teams came to a point where the cave split off in two directions.

"Which way now Ratchet," Jazz asked.

Ratchet waved his scanner between the two paths a few times before he groaned, "I'm not certain. For some reason the energon readings seem to change in their intensity for both paths. One moment they are both the same, the next one is stronger than the other, and then it becomes the other way around."

"Perhaps we should investigate both paths just to be safe," Murrue suggested. She then gave a side glare in Natarle's direction as she continued, "That is unless there are any objections reasonable or otherwise."

"No of course not," Natarle replied in a snide tone. "But then again it's not like you would actually listen to other suggestions if they were given unless you'd agree with them no matter how unreasonable."

"Okay let's just get rollin' on this," Jazz cut in before things turned ugly. "Ratchet, how about you and Murrue head down the left path while Natarle and I cruise down the right?"

Ratchet was confused at first by Jazz's decision at first, until he glanced at the two previously mentioned women and said, "Oh yes of course. I don't see why not. Just be sure that you keep your comm. links open at all times just to be safe."

"No problem Doc." Jazz then transformed into his vehicle mode with his headlights on and a door open with Ratchet following his actions soon after. Natarle and Murrue just gave a snappish fine to the suggestion and climbed into their assigned Autobots before the two drove off down the chosen paths.

As he drove Jazz decided it was high time he got some answers from Natarle on a few things and asked, "So I gotta ask, why are ya gettin' on Ramius's case so harshly all of sudden?"

Natarle just sighed after a moment before answering, "I wouldn't exactly say it was all of a sudden. I guess it was just building up to this. I mean I understand where she's coming from on the matters that we've argued over but I can't just ignore what I was trained and raised on."

"Raised on?"

Natarle sighed as she explained, "I've actually come from a long military family history of honor and prestige to the Earth Alliance, and so it was natural for me to continue the lineage as a career soldier. I've always been raised to be less emotional, caring, strict, and by-the-book when it came to taking action, but to also do whatever is necessary to accomplish a goal, so naturally that kind of mentality tends to conflict with someone like Murrue Ramius. It also means that I'm normally driven by my sense of duty which also tends to require an emotional protective nature so I can't afford to ever show my softer side for anyone. To be honest I wouldn't be surprised if most of the crew hates me especially in the captain's case."

Jazz let that sink in for a moment before he started to chuckle, much to Natarle's surprise. "You're kidding right? I've actually had a number of chats with Murrue and everyone else from the _Archangel_ and they've never once given any indication that they hate you. They may not agree with some of the things you've done but they understand your reasons. I even heard Murrue say that you are one of the finest officers that she's ever seen and had the pleasure of servin' with."

"What?" Now that came as a major surprise for Natarle as she had no idea that the others thought of her like that or ever even said anything like that. She would have commented further on the matter when Jazz suddenly hit the brakes and screeched to a stop. "Jazz what's wrong?"

"Quiet," Jazz hushed. "I thought I heard something."

Natarle asked Jazz to roll down a window a little for her so she could listen as well. The two then sat there for a moment listening for any indication of something but there was nothing. "I don't hear anything Jazz," Natarle whispered. "What are we listening for anyways?"

"I'm not sure but it somehow seemed familiar to me for some freaky reason," Jazz replied ominously. The two then listened for another moment before they heard a strange scuttling sound. It was not like the sound of Scraplets running along the ground but it was similar in a sense and familiar to Jazz somehow.

"Ratchet, I think there's a chance we're not alone down here," Jazz called over his radio.

* * *

"Understood Jazz. We'll be careful," Ratchet replied from where he and Murrue were. The two were driving in silence for some time now when they got Jazz's call, neither one knowing what to say to the other and each stewing in their own thoughts. After receiving word from Jazz about his concerns though, Murrue was brought out of her thoughts and figured that she should at least try and talk with Ratchet.

Before Murrue could say anything though, Ratchet beat her to the punch. "I suppose you're not even the least bit worried about your comrade?"

"You may find this hard to believe, but despite our differences I do actually think very highly of Natarle," Murrue replied. "She's always provided good points when it comes to making a decision and I've always thought that input was extremely helpful in some of my decisions. To be honest, I'm certain I'm the one she's not too fond of, which I can understand."

"And why is that?"

"Ratchet, I don't need you or Natarle to tell me that I'm not a very good captain, and that's why I'm extremely grateful for having Natarle by my side. There's no doubt in my mind she would make a fine captain, which is why sometimes I feel like she should have been the one to assume command of the _Archangel_."

Ratchet was stunned by that. Despite their differences and all that was between the two of them, Murrue actually thought very highly of Natarle Badgiruel and felt that she was not as good a captain for her ship as her second in command could have been. He thought about all this for a moment before saying, "I don't think the _Archangel_ could ever have asked for a better captain than you Murrue Ramius, but perhaps you should let Natarle know how you really feel."

Murrue nodded in thanks to Ratchet for that when she saw something out of the corner of her eye. "Ratchet stop! I think I saw something!"

Ratchet immediately came to a stop and started to look and listen for whatever it was the Murrue had seen as he asked, "What was it?"

"I'm not sure, but it looked like a large bug or something."

Ratchet felt himself freezing up at those words. "Did you say large bug?"

Before his question could be answered something rammed into his side hard, sending him tumbling across the cave floor until he transformed to robot mode to land on his feet with the _Archangel_ captain in one hand and his Energon Repair Ray readied in the other. He then looked and saw what looked like a massive Cybertronian beetle which was letting out a loud screech.

"By the AllSpark! An Insecticon Bruiser," Ratchet cried out in shock. He quickly let Murrue down before shifting the hand that previously held her into a sword and charging the large bug. Though his attacks were ineffective at first, using his Repair Ray he was able to drain out most of his attacker's energon to the point where a swift stab from his blade caused the bug to cease functioning completely.

"What in the world was that," Murrue cried out as she readied her energon pistol, just to be on the safe side.

"An Insecticon drone," Ratchet answered. "But I had thought that they were all left on Cybertron under the command of Megatron's best scientist."

"Well at least its dead now."

"That may be, but this is far from over." At Murrue's questioning gaze Ratchet elaborated, "As I said this is just a drone and when it comes to Insecticons, the drones never stray too far from their hive leaders."

"Have you dealt with them before?"

"Personally no, but one member of our group has, and I doubt he will be too fond to hear this news." Ratchet then tamped his comm. link as he called out, "Jazz this is Ratchet. Murrue Ramius and I have just encountered one of the few things that would be able to defeat Grimlock's team and I think it would be best if we left before we encountered more."

_"__Well now that's a mighty fine shame Doc,"_ Jazz replied.

"And why is that?"

_"__I think we're about to."_

Ratchet and Murrue looked to one and other before Ratchet quickly transformed and started racing back the way they came. "Jazz get out of there! We need to head for the exit now before they seal us in!"

_"__Already got metal to the pedal on that Doc! I just hope that we don't have any more problems come up before we get out of here."_

Ratchet and Murrue to found themselves mentally praying that Jazz was right in hoping that they did not encounter any more problems before they left the cave.

* * *

Sadly, the four found that Jazz's hopes were that of an optimistic fool, as when they finally reached said cave entrance, they found that it was completely blocked by rocks leaving them all sealed inside.

"What now," Natarle asked.

"Well we can't blast our way out of here but we definitely don't want to stay here either especially if you consider the swarm of bugs that you and I encountered back there was any indication," Jazz answered.

"Jazz is right," Ratchet agreed. "If we try to use our weapons to force our way out we may bring the cave down on top of our heads."

Murrue thought over what had just been said for a moment before asking, "What if we didn't force our way out?" When she received a confused glance from everyone present she elaborated by asking, "What if we got the Insecticons to do it for us? I think you can understand what I'm suggesting Lieutenant."

Natarle looked at her captain for a moment before she simply smirked in reply stating, "Yes I think I do Captain."

Jazz and Ratchet just looked at each other with the same thought going through their processors. _We're about to be used as bait aren't we?_

* * *

A short while later, Jazz and Ratchet were walking back down into the cave and this time they both took the path that Jazz and Natarle had taken earlier as the number of Insecticons that Jazz and Natarle had encountered was much larger which meant that it was a much quicker path to the hive's nest than the other route. In no time at all, after fending off the few drones they encountered, they found themselves in a massive cavern that was crawling with Insecticon drones and in the center of the room, atop a small mound of rocks, were the three Insecticon hive leaders Kickback, Hardshell, and their leader Sharpshot.

"I remember you Jazzzz. Do you remember me, me, me," Kickback, the insane one of the three, buzzed.

"All too well unfortunately," Jazz moaned. The last time he met the Insecticons was also the first time any of the Autobots encountered them and the impression that Kickback left on Jazz was that to say the bug was insane would be a compliment to Kickback.

Before things had a chance to ugly, or rather uglier, Ratchet cut in saying, "We did not want any trouble. We were just investigating an energon reading."

"We know," Sharpshot told him. "We make energon reading go off. We want Autobots to come so we can enjoy."

"Enjoy what," Jazz groaned.

"Enjoy new hunt," Hardshell replied. "Hunt blue planet creatures boring. No challenge. Not even small pink ones."

As he said that they indicated a small section of the massive cavern that showed the remains of multiple Earth creatures, and to the shock of both Autobots, and to the disgust of any sensible man, some of those creatures were wearing both Z.A.F.T. and Earth Forces uniforms.

"Oh man now that is sick and wrong in so many ways," Jazz moaned.

"You thought that you could attack them and feed on whatever energon spilled from them until you realized that they had none in their systems," Ratchet gasped.

"Yezzz," Sharpshot replied. "Energon in cave only so good. Fresh supply from otherzzz much better. Now we have two suppliezz."

"Yeah we'll just see about that," Jazz said as he whipped out his Scatter Blaster and fired off a few rounds at the three. At once all of the Insecticons went into an uproar of a frenzy as Ratchet had soon joined in the shooting of the miserable monsters with everything they could until finally the bugs had enough.

"Attack!" Sharpshot cried out, and then the Insecticons swarmed towards the Autobots in their bug modes. As soon as they saw that they were swarming towards them Jazz and Ratchet smirked to each other and transformed into vehicle mode as they raced back the way they came as fast as they could. They were chased by all manner of Insecticon all the way to the cave entrance. The problem was that once the Insecticons reached the entrance, the two Autobots had seemed to have disappeared.

"Where'd they go, go, go," Kickback asked after he and his two brothers transformed back into robot mode.

"You lose them," Hardshell shouted as he hit Kickback across the back of the head.

"Actually, you just lost the hunt," a voice called out. All the Insecticons, masters and drones alike, all spun around to see the smirking faces of Natarle Badgiruel and Murrue Ramius as the two pointed their energon pistols at the three lead bugs.

"If anything," Murrue continued from what she was saying earlier.

"You've now become the hunted," Natarle finished. The two then fired off as many rounds as they could from the two pistols causing all of the Insecticons to back away and thrash around in fear until finally one of the ones thrashing hit the blocked entrance opening up the path. Before the bugs could try and stop them, the sound of engines reached audio receptors and ears alike and the vehicle modes of both Jazz and Ratchet rammed through what Insecticons blocked the passage still. With the way clear, Natarle and Murrue both took off and ran through the entrance right behind their Autobot partners, shooting the oversized bugs as they went. Once all four had cleared the entrance, there was just one thing left to do.

Jazz and Ratchet reassumed robot mode once more and, with Murrue and Natarle's help, blasted the cave until the entrance was blocked once more, trapping those who now resided within it inside, hopefully for a long time. The two _Archangel _officers both looked at one and other with a smile and a simple nod as show of both thanks and good work, leading the two Autobots with them to smile as they radioed the base for a Ground Bridge home.

* * *

That evening, Natarle, Murrue, and the rest of the _Archangel_ crew had returned to the ship for the night and it found Murrue and Natarle sitting in the ship's mess hall having a drink, both feeling the need to talk to each other about some issues that were still unresolved.

"Captain," Natarle began.

"Natarle there's no need to be formal when neither one of us is on duty. You can just call me Murrue if you'd like," Murrue interrupted.

Natarle gave a small smile and nodded at that as she continued. "Murrue, I know that I probably shouldn't be saying this, but I honestly think you're right in saying that whatever choice the Autobots make when it comes to whether or not they come with us to Alaska we should respect it. Just please try to understand. I never have nor ever will criticize you out of any personal dislike, I've merely always tried to point out the vital importance of maintaining some semblance of order and that doesn't change simply because of field promotions or emergency situations."

"Yes I understand that, or at least the concept anyway."

"And a military must be regulated. It requires both soldiers who follow the orders of their superiors and commanders who can see the larger picture and make the appropriate decisions otherwise the ship cannot be victorious or hope to survive in battle, and I'm certain that some of the Autobots feel the same way."

Murrue smiled at Natarle before she said her piece. "Some of us know that but still can't do it." At Natarle's understanding hum, Murrue continued by saying, "Natarle I'm fully aware of the fact that I'm not suited for this position."

"Murrue I only meant-," Natarle tried to protest, but she was interrupted when Murrue raised a hand in a gesture to let her continue.

"It's alright. I already know the truth Natarle. A lot has come between us, but I am truly grateful for all your help thus far and that I'm sure you will continue to give so long as you and I both serve aboard this ship together. Believe me, there is no doubt in my mind that you will make a fine captain someday."

Natarle looked at Murrue in shock at that, and then simply smiled and said, "You know your problem is that you're just too soft." Normally that comment would have been said in the way one would expect it to be said when coming from Natarle, but this time, as she said it with a smile, it was clear she had meant it lightly. Especially since she continued by saying, "But I guess a lot of us on this ship are the same, and it is an honor serving aboard the _Archangel_ with you."

Murrue then raised her glass to Natarle as she toasted, "To the _Archangel_ then, and to the fortune that brought us together as her crew and commanding officers."

Natarle clinked her glass against Murrue's with a simple, "Here, here." That night, while they would not say they were on the best terms with each other, the two women would definitely agree that they were on understanding terms and would both consider this the start of a newly strengthened friendship.

* * *

The Insecticons moaned in both pain and anguish as they sat in the darkness of the cave that they were buried in, humiliated in their defeat and in the fact that they were outsmarted by mere humans. Sharpshot swore to his brothers and hive that they would get revenge on the two human women that did this to them and all those close to them, including the Autobots, but at the moment even he was starting to doubt he could keep his word to the hive. The next thing he heard was the sound of explosions on the other side of the blocked entrance, and Sharpshot had a pretty good idea what was coming next.

"Get away," Sharpshot shouted as he scattered with his two brothers and their followers. A moment later, the blockage was blown apart by a massive explosion, opening up the cave once more. The three Insecticons looked to the entrance and saw the familiar sight of a silver and dark grey figure stepping forward and into the now revealed moonlight.

"Well now this is a welcome surprise," came the smug voice of the former Decepticon first lieutenant-turned traitor, Starscream. "I come looking for energon and I find some old friends."

"Starscream," Sharpshot asked. "Why you here? Where'zz Megatron?"

"I no longer serve Megatron, and am now in fact forming my own Decepticon army. A true Decepticon army, and I believe I may know of a possible ally here on this planet that may further my cause. Though I will admit having you on board will give me an extra edge that I am sure will be of use to both me and this possible ally. Interested?"

The three Insecticons looked between themselves until Hardshell stated, "You help us get even with humanzzz who do thizzz to us and help Autobots, and we help."

"Ah I take it that means you've met some of the crew of the human ship that Optimus Prime and his Autobots are now aligned with then," Starscream inquired. When he received three nods in reply the treacherous Seeker continued, "Well then I can assure you this will most assuredly give you just the revenge you seek. So then, do we have a deal?"

The Insecticons all nodded and Starscream smirked at his latest accomplishment as he declared, "Then be ready to transform and move out my friends, we have a meeting with the one called Muruta Azrael."

* * *

**_AN: Okay show of hands, who else had moments during Gundam SEED where they half expected Murrue and Natarle to start throwing punches at each other? I honestly thought that with everything that had happened between them, and after adding in the whole situation with the Autobots and their plans would've brought about a breaking point that would have led to...well you saw what happened here. Anyways, next chapter will not have any of the specific team-ups but it will have a major influence on the story's overall plot. If you can't figure out what it is based on the preview, then the only other hint I will give you is that it's based on a certain adventure from Transformers Prime Season 2. Now then, preview time..._**

**_A tragedy befalls the young Autobot scout as Bumblebee finds himself unable to assume his vehicle mode after being attacked by an unknown assailant. What will the already voiceless scout do to regain what he had lost, and just what will the Autobot chief medical officer be willing to sacrifice for the brave scout? Meanwhile, Azrael, Blue Cosmos, and the command staff of the Earth Forces meet with Starscream as their next goals in military advancement are finally revealed, which leads to the beginning of an alliance that may change the fate of the war and cause the Autobots grave problems. Next time on Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Prime…_****Chapter 16: Operation Cosmos****_. Brace yourself for a cruelty unlike any other Bumblebee!_**

**_Please read and review, and I'll see you next chapter!_**


	16. 16: Operation Cosmos

_**AN: I wanted to have this chapter for this story for two reasons. The first being that it helps the plot of the story and the overall plot of the trilogy. The second is because the two-part episode of Transformers Prime that this chapter is based on is in my opinion one of the most touching ones of the series, as it really gives you a sense of how dedicated Ratchet is to restoring Bumblebee's voice box and just making sure Bumblebee is well in general, but it also shows that even Bumblebee has days where he can't see a bright side and to see someone like Bumblebee so upset like that it really kind of makes you sympathize and feel for him. Anyways on to the story.**_

_**I do not own anything from either of the Gundam or Transformers franchises.**_

* * *

**Chapter 16: Operation Cosmos**

It was another in many peaceful days for the Autobots and the rest of the nation of Orb. To some that would mean that they were facing the calm before the storm, but for others it just meant that things were incredibly, undeniably, boring. Right now that especially held true for Bumblebee, as the young scout was currently taking on the task that would be considered the bane of any soldier's existence, monitor duty. The young scout was on this dreaded assignment as the other Autobots had taken to conduct routine patrols in different parts of the globe when they were not helping to work on the _Omega II_, and as such, even Ratchet was not able to remain at the base to man the Ground Bridge at all times, so the Autobots needed someone to fill in when they were not doing a patrol or working on the ship. Bumblebee had the unfortunate pleasure of drawing the short straw for that this morning and was now just hoping that Wheeljack would hurry up and get back from his patrol so the wrecker could relieve him of this irritating task.

Fortunately for him, Bumblebee did have one way to pass the time, and that was by contacting a certain Coordinator that was currently working at Morgenroete, and by talking he means trying once again to get Kira to take a break from his work for a minute. **_"But Kira, if there was ever I time I wanted you to take a break it would be right now! It's so boring here and the only other ones here right now are Arcee and Cagalli. I do NOT want to be the only guy here with two girls Kira,"_** Bumblebee whined.

_"__So what, you want me and Cagalli to double date with you and Arcee or something,"_ Kira asked from his end of the comm.

**_"_****_A, NO I don't want to double date or any kind of date with Arcee, so stop suggesting that I do! B, do you want to be left alone with those two for as long as I have been?"_**

_"__Yeah whatever you say Bumblebee,"_ Kira smirked. _"Besides I'm nearly finished with this program for the support OS and I want it to be finished by the time that the _Archangel_ and _Omega II_ are ready to head out again."_

**_"_****_I'm pretty sure that the _****Archangel****_ will have to let you finish with your work before you leave, seeing as to do otherwise would be dishonoring the deal that the captain made with Lord Uzumi,"_**Bumblebee reasoned.

_"__Maybe, but I don't want to inconvenience everyone by making you all wait for me to finish this thing."_

**_"_****_Hate to break it to you Kira, but technically, we're already waiting for you and the _****Archangel****_ to finish up so we can leave."_**

_"__Wait what,"_ Kira asked, completely shocked. _"I thought the repairs on _Omega II _weren't finished yet."_

**_"_****_Actually, we finished the repairs on the ship itself a while back. All the work that's being done on it now is just a result from Optimus requesting that we install a Ground Bridge in the ship so that we can use it when we need to and so we can avoid just having to rely on the one here at Alpha I," _**Bumblebee revealed. The idea behind having a Ground Bridge on the _Omega II_ was definitely a smart move as the Autobots only had the one in the base at the moment so naturally there was cause for concern of what would happen if the base's Ground Bridge went down or simply if the base were attacked and they needed a quick escape to the ship.

_"__I guess that makes sense,"_ Kira admitted. _"Besides even if the whole double date thing wasn't what you were suggesting, I feel like it would be really weird."_

**_"_****_What the idea of me and Arcee being all lovey-dovey around you and Cagalli seems as strange to you as it does to me?"_**

_"__So you keep saying,"_ Kira muttered.

**_"_****_I heard that!"_**

_"__Sorry, but no it's not that. I actually meant the idea of me and Cagalli dating. For some reason it really weirds me out, and it kind of makes me feel a little sick to my stomach as well for some reason."_

**_"_****_You make it sound like dating her would be the worst thing in the world,"_** Bumblebee observed.

_"__No that's not what I mean. It's just…I can't really explain what it is,"_ Kira told him. _"I feel like there is a connection between me and Cagalli, but it's not a romantic one. It's more like I feel like I knew her in a certain sense a long time ago, but it was so long ago that I can't remember it. Like a connection between you and a long lost family member or something if that makes any sense."_

Bumblebee could see from the expression on Kira's face that he was serious about this. For some reason Kira thought there was something about his relationship to Cagalli that he felt like he should know but for some reason he did not have a clue what it was. **_"Yeah I kind of know what that's like,"_** Bumblebee told him. **_"When I first met Cliffjumper in school back on Cybertron, I felt like we had met somewhere before, but I couldn't put my servo on it. It wasn't until later on that we found out our carriers had actually introduced us to each other once when we were really little kids, but since we only met that one time and did not see each other again for years the memory didn't stick."_**

_"__Do you think that might be what the deal is with me and Cagalli,"_ Kira asked. Bumblebee would have answered, but he had to stop and answer an incoming call for a Ground Bridge from one of the Bots that was patrolling. Bumblebee quickly pulled down the lever for the Ground Bridge activation, and a moment after the green vortex had activated Wheeljack rolled in and transformed to robot mode.

"Hey Bee," the Wrecker greeted. "Anything worthwhile to report?"

**_"_****_Nope just another dull morning unless you count me having to do an encore performance of 'Convince the Workaholic Kira to Take a Break' as exciting,"_** Bumblebee replied.

"Well I guess that's better than receiving bad news," Wheeljack replied. "Still the fact that it's been so long since the last sighting of any 'Cons is really not sitting right with me. Well, I guess you'd better get out there yourself."

**_"_****_Yeah, and it's about time to! I've been itching to burn some rubber,"_** Bumblebee replied. Wheeljack just shook his head in amusement at the scout, as he knew how fond Bumblebee was of being able to just drive in his alt mode whenever he got the chance, a fact that was no secret to any Autobot that had ever met the scout.

"Well just be careful out there. You don't want to get your girlfriend all upset if you came back in anything less than good shape," Wheeljack teased as he activated the Ground Bridge to the coordinates that Bumblebee was to patrol.

**_"_****_Yeah, yeah, and Arcee is NOT my girlfriend."_** With that Bumblebee had transformed and raced off through the vortex to his patrol route for that day.

_"__Uh, hello? Bumblebee, are you still there,"_ Kira asked. Wheeljack turned and saw that Bumblebee had left his comm. line to the young man opened when he left.

"Sorry Kira," Wheeljack answered. "Bumblebee actually just left for his patrol for today. Hope he wasn't bothering you too much."

_"__Nah not really. He was just trying to convince me to take a break, but I'm really close to finishing this so…"_

"Okay I gotcha. Oh and Kira." At Kira' questioning glance Wheeljack told him, "Take a break and come down here for a bit sometime before you pass out from working yourself to death." Wheeljack shut off the comm. line before Kira could protest. Wheeljack then chuckled to himself for bit after that, but it did nothing to save him from monitor duty or alleviate the bad feeling he was getting in his gut that something was going to happen today, and it would not be a good thing.

* * *

A few hours after Bumblebee had hit the road for his patrol, the scout was just cruising along a canyon road whirring a small tune to himself. **_"I've been beaten down Decepticons, all the live long cycle."_**

_"__Hey Bee,"_ Wheeljack then interrupted. _"I'm getting a weird energy reading near your location. It might be nothing, but we should still check it out. Bulk will be there soon in case you need backup."_

**_"_****_Roger that Wheeljack, but tell Bulkhead not to worry too much. I'll have this wrapped up by the time he gets there,"_** Bumblebee replied as he accelerated toward the coordinates of the reading that Wheeljack had just sent him, barely registering Wheeljack's chuckle of amusement at his confidence.

As soon as he had arrived at the location and made sure no one was around to notice, Bumblebee quickly transformed and moved to get a better look at whatever was sending out the signal, but to his surprise, there was nothing there. Bumblebee raised an eyebrow in confusion at this, and moved closer to where the signal originated from, thinking that he just could not see it yet. He kept walking with a scanner out until finally he was right on top of whatever should have been giving out the reading, but he still saw nothing. The next thing he knew, Bumblebee had stepped on something that sent a major shock through his system until he fell unconscious.

Not a moment after the large scout had collapsed from his surprise shock, a group of men in black ops uniforms moved in on the scout as a helicopter flew in from above them. "Hurry it up, there's no telling how soon the others will be here or how long he'll be out," the leader told them.

The soldiers worked quickly, using something to cut through Bumblebee's armor and into the scout himself until they had reached what they wanted and pulled it out. It appeared to be spherical in shape for the most part and was gold in color. As soon as they had it out, the men placed the device they had taken out of Bumblebee into a containment unit that had been lowered from the helicopter and quickly left the area. A few seconds after the mysterious men had left, Bulkhead rolled up, and the first thing he saw was an unconscious Bumblebee on the ground. "Bee! Bee, are you okay? Come on Bee answer me," Bulkhead shouted as he shook the scout.

Finally Bumblebee came to and saw Bulkhead standing over him looking concerned. "Hey what happened," Bulkhead asked.

**_"_****_I…I don't know,"_** Bumblebee replied as he stood up slowly. **_"I was checking out the reading that Wheeljack picked up at base, there was this shock, and I fell into a temporary stasis."_**

"You sure you're okay though Bumblebee?" Bulkhead was no doctor, but he could tell that the scout did not look so good, and the way he was moving as he stood up was not inspiring confidence.

**_"_****_Yeah Bulk I'm fine. Let's just see if we can catch up to whomever it was that attacked me."_**

"Alright, they probably didn't get too far anyways so we shouldn't have any trouble catching up to them. Let's roll," Bulkhead then ran back to the road transforming as he did and started to drive off. Bumblebee went to follow him, but then stopped short. He then seemed to focus hard for a minute, as if he was trying to do something that should have been easy for him, and nothing happened.

Seeing that Bumblebee was neither following him nor assuming his vehicle mode, Bulkhead stopped short and quickly reversed back to over to Bumblebee as he transformed once again. "What's the matter? Are we rolling or what," Bulkhead asked.

Once he asked that, Bumblebee seemed to strain in doing something again, and Bulkhead could see parts of him, such as his doors and chest shifting for a moment, before the reverted back to the way they were before. Bumblebee started to gain a panicked look as he trilled out, **_"Bulkhead, something's wrong with me! I…I can't transform Bulkhead! I CAN'T TRANSFORM!"_**

"Whoa, whoa, Bumblebee calm down, it's probably nothing," Bulkhead tried to reassure his friend, but he was anything but successful as Bumblebee continued to have a small panic attack while continuing to try and transform that was starting to worry him. He then quickly tapped his comm. link and called out, "Jackie, get a Ground Bridge to our location now, and tell Ratchet that we need him and his medical kit at the base yesterday! There's something wrong with Bumblebee!"

* * *

A few hours later, the entirety of the Autobot team had assembled at the base after receiving news of Bumblebee's inability to transform to vehicle mode along with Kira, Murrue, Cagalli, Miriallia, Tolle, and Sai. Bumblebee was sitting on an examination table as Ratchet scanned the scout trying to find the problem.

"Anything yet Ratchet," Arcee asked, worriedly.

"Nothing more than there was since you last asked me three minutes ago Arcee," Ratchet replied, clearly annoyed with the femme's constant querying of his progress in finding the problem with the scout.

"Do you at least have a hunch about what's wrong with him," Sai asked, almost as worriedly as Arcee.

"Well I'm hoping that this is nothing more than some minor damage to Bumblebee's T-Cog."

"His what," Miriallia asked, with a clear confusion that was matched by every other human that was present in the room.

"It's short for Transformation Cog, the biomechanical organ that all Transformers possess," Arcee explained. "It's what allows us to scan and change into vehicles as well as access our default weapons."

"And I'm hoping it's just some minor damage that shouldn't be too hard to repair," Ratchet finished. A moment later, Ratchet's scanner beeped, signaling that it found something, but it was not something Ratchet wanted to see on the readout. "By the AllSpark!"

"What is it? What's wrong," Kira asked, now getting more worried than he was before.

"Bumblebee's T-Cog isn't damaged. It's been removed," Ratchet exclaimed. That elicited gasps from everyone in the room.

"You mean…Bumblebee's no longer…able to transform," Murrue asked, not believing her ears.

**_"_****_But…But Ratchet, I have to be able to transform to vehicle mode! How am I supposed to help you guys if I can't even access my wheels or my weapons,"_** Bumblebee asked, obviously more upset than anyone else there.

"Don't worry about it," Tolle said, getting everyone's attention. "I'm sure that we can just whip up another T-Cog in no time right?" After a moment, Bumblebee just buzzed in despair as he placed his helm in both heads, almost seeming to the humans like he was crying. Miriallia shot Tolle a look a second later for that. "What? What did I say?"

"Weren't you listening Tolle? Arcee said that a T-Cog isn't just a piece of technology like their weapons," Miriallia scolded.

"You're friend is correct Tolle Koenig," Ratchet snapped, clearly angry about his inability to help the scout. "If replacing something like a T-Cog was that simple then don't you think I would've fixed Bumblebee's voice box by now?!"

Before anyone could say anything else, Bumblebee let out a loud, sad whir that caused Kira and Cagalli to immediately race over to him and place a hand on one of his legs as Kira said, "Don't say that Bumblebee. You know that isn't true."

"He's right," Cagalli agreed. "You're definitely _not_ useless."

Bumblebee gave the two a grateful look for their attempts to cheer him up, but still could not help but feel that it was a waste of their time.

"Whatever the case may be," Optimus declared, getting everyone's attention. "We must discover who the culprit behind this cruel and heinous act is if we wish to retrieve Bumblebee's T-Cog."

"But who would want to do this anyways," Elita asked, as she place a hand on her chin as she started to think. "The only other ones that know about and of the Cybertronians besides the_Archangel_ crew, Miss Erica, and certain members of the Orb government including Lord Uzumi are Z.A.F.T. and they're allied with the Decepticons."

"There might be one other group that could've done this," Cagalli declared with a scowl as she thought about it. At everyone's questioning glance, Cagalli elaborated saying, "What if Blue Cosmos found out about you guys?"

"I was under the impression those guys were only interested in 'the preservation of your blue and pure world'. Why would they do this to Bumblebee," Hound asked, having been in Banadia when Kira, Cagalli, and Waltfeld were attacked by said terrorists.

"Maybe because they think that they may have found a way to strengthen their cause after seeing evidence of beings that could be described as living technology," Murrue suggested with a grave tone.

"For the moment, it is the only lead we have, so we must follow it," Optimus declared. "Ratchet, you remain here and ask Lord Uzumi to use what connections he has to find any information on Blue Cosmos that may give us a location to where they may have taken Bumblebee's T-Cog if they are indeed behind this. Be sure to keep an eye on Bumblebee as well. The rest of us will start increasing our patrols to find what we can of the terrorist group as well, but from now on, we will do so in teams of two. I do not want any Autobot alone should we take the risk of someone else falling victim to a similar trap."

A moment later, the remaining Autobots were rolling out to find out what they could in order to track down the terrorist group and hopefully help their young scout, with the exception of Arcee who asked to stay behind and help Ratchet keep an eye on Bumblebee. Unsurprisingly, no one made any kind of comment on her decision.

* * *

"What do you mean it's not working," Murruta Azrael demanded. He had just arrived at top secret installation that the Earth Forces had allowed him to set up for special projects that were carried out by his scientists in Blue Cosmos to check on their progress of creating a machine with similar capabilities to the Transformers they now had many reports of. The idea of creating a mobile suit that had the capability to always have a weapon ready should it lose all of its other ones and be able to alter its configuration to any form was something that the top brass were more than interested in, and he had hoped that using the information he had acquired from an anonymous source about Transformer biology and the T-Cog in particular would have helped. Sadly it seemed this was not the case.

"Apologies Lord…," the lead scientist began, before Azrael interrupted him with a glare. "Sorry, Director Azrael, but we don't understand why the unit won't respond anymore than you do. We've done everything as you had specified us to right down to making sure the integration of the device your troops 'retrieved' was perfect and yet we have still not been able to make the machine so much as move let alone change into a vehicle."

"It should be possible though," Azrael ranted. "Why isn't it working?!"

At the sound of low chuckle, everyone turned to see Starscream standing in the doorway of the facility as he openly mocked, "So this is what you ended up doing. I must say I'm impressed that you even made it this far with your plans, but to see you set back by something so simple is just humorous in and of itself."

Before anyone could blink, a squadron of troops had surrounded the Seeker and had their rifles trained on him a moment later. Starscream did not show any concern for this however as he simply waved a finger saying, "Ah, ah, ah. Now is that any way to thank the one who told you how to acquire that precious T-Cog and just how to cut it out without damaging it?"

Azrael quirked an eyebrow in curiosity and immediately motioned for the men to stand down before turning to the Decepticon traitor. "Are you saying that you were the anonymous source that sent that information?"

"Indeed I am, and it seems you require further aid from me, Murruta Azrael," Starscream stated smugly as he strode into the room. "You see a T-Cog isn't technology. It is biology. Which means it will reject any power source other than energon."

Now Azrael was intrigued and wondering just how much he could get out of this being of another world. "Go on," he prompted Starscream.

"For we Cybertronians, energon is the fuel, the ammunition, and the lifeblood of all Cybertronians whatever their affiliation. You and I both currently need it, but I lack the means of effectively locating it, but once I supply you with the…particulars of its chemical make-up we can utilize your resources to devise a way of detecting new deposits. For us to share of course," Starscream explained. As he did, he slipped a small amount of energon from himself into the machine Azrael's men were working on. A moment later, the machine started to activate a fact that Azrael and the other scientists did not miss.

"Perhaps if the supply meats our significant demand…," Azrael began.

"Ah, intending to build an army are we," Starscream interrupted. After taking Azrael's silence as a confirmation Starscream told him, "I am no stranger to ambition, and I am also working on forming an army of my own, which is why I am here to suggest…an alliance, if you will."

"You provide us with the way to locate energon and create our new transforming weapons, as well as build up our forces, while we help you locate the very thing you need to survive and provide you with additional troops," Azrael clarified.

"And I can provide you with inside information on both the Autobots and the plans of the now allied Z.A.F.T. and Decepticons."

"But you yourself are a Decepticon. Why should we trust you?"

"Because unlike that fool Megatron, I intend to bring about the age of the true Decepticons, and I would not turn on you as soon as I am finished with you. Plus I am sure you are not one to ignore a valuable source of information on Z.A.F.T.'s plans and what should be done with the Autobots. After all, why settle for something that you can barely get anything out of when you can have someone that can provide you so much more."

Azrael smirked in eagerness at Starscream, as he liked the sound of what the Seeker was offering. He then extended his hand as he stated, "Then we have an agreement Mister…"

Starscream smirked as he allowed Azrael to grasp one of his fingers in a way to seal the deal with a handshake as he stated, "Starscream. Commander Starscream."

* * *

A couple of days later, there was still no news of a possible base for Blue Cosmos that may have been where said group had taken Bumblebee's T-Cog, and all the Autobots were starting to get more than a little worried. Though in Ratchet's case it was more annoyed really, and the reason had just asked him if one of the teams had found anything yet.

"No Bumblebee, Ironhide and Jazz haven't found anything yet, and Wheeljack and Bulkhead haven't reported in yet either," Ratchet replied.

**_"_****_What?! Seriously,"_** Bumblebee asked.

"Bumblebee! I will let you know the moment I hear something." Ratchet really hoped that would be the end of the scout's need to ask about their progress on finding his missing T-Cog for that day, but sadly he was wrong as not two seconds later Bumblebee was tapping his shoulder to ask him again. "Oh for Primus's sake. Will SOMEONE keep him occupied so I can get some work done?!"

Thankfully, Tolle and Miriallia came to the doctor's rescue. "Hey Bumblebee, how about a video game," Tolle offered, knowing Bumblebee loved to play video games as much as any human kid would.

Bumblebee was more than happy to accept, until he saw that the game the two were playing was actually a racing game. At Bumblebee's whir in annoyance and sadness, Miriallia instantly whispered, "Bad call."

"Oh yeah," Tolle realized. "Sorry Bumblebee."

"No big deal," Miriallia told Bumblebee. "That game is really boring anyways. Why don't we just watch some TV instead?"

**_"_****_Sure okay,"_** Bumblebee agreed, starting to cheer up again. A minute later though, they saw that the channel they had switched to was playing a commercial for a sports car that caused Bumblebee to cry out in despair.

"Yikes," Tolle whispered.

"No kidding. Taking the auto out of an Autobot is really not a good thing," Miriallia agreed. She then raced over to try and cheer the scout up. "Come on Bumblebee," she called out. "You're still just as amazing without wheels. I mean speed isn't everything."

A moment later, the familiar engine sound of Arcee's vehicle mode reached everyone's ears, and the blue femme skidded to a stop in the base with Cagalli aboard a second later. "Hey that's a new personal best Arcee," Cagalli declared as she pulled off her helmet and shook her head to free up her hair. "You reached one-twenty easy!"

The two then saw that they were under the gaze of a very ticked off Bumblebee and had the decency to realize they just made a serious mistake. Bumblebee just growled as he started to stomp away, catching Ratchet's attention once again when the medic saw where he was headed. "Bumblebee, where do you think you're going," Ratchet cried out in slight panic.

**_"_****_I'm going for a walk,"_** Bumblebee stated, and no one needed to understand his beeps and blips to know that he was growling it out.

"You can't just go for a walk," Ratchet half-shouted indignantly. "Even though a few people know what we really are, we are still robots in disguise! Leaving the base in this form puts you at risk of being seen, of us being discovered, and of Z.A.F.T. and the Decepticons realizing that both the _Omega II_ and the _Archangel_ were not actually chased away from Orb waters!" Ratchet then put a hand on Bumblebee's shoulder to guide him to his room as he continued, "You'll just have to remain in the base until-"

**_"_****_What?! Until you can fix me Ratchet,"_** Bumblebee demanded as he slapped Ratchet's hand away. The scout then stormed off to his room by himself, leaving everyone in shock since no one in the room other than Arcee had ever seen Bumblebee even a little upset let alone this angry.

"Yes Bumblebee. Until I can fix you," Ratchet replied softly as he looked down sadly. Though it was not meant for anyone to hear, Arcee still heard him say it, and before she could even transform so she could move to comfort him Ratchet stated, "I'm uh…I'm going to go and get Kira. He said he would want to stop by and see how Bumblebee was doing. Arcee you uh…you have the con."

Arcee watched sadly as Ratchet transformed and raced out of the base to the Morgenroete factory to pick up Kira and thought to herself, _You still blame yourself for that don't you Ratchet?_

* * *

A few hours later or so, Kira was sitting in the passenger seat of Ratchet's vehicle form just sadly watching the sites go by as they traveled slowly to the Autobot base. His thoughts were focused on Bumblebee and how sad and upset the scout was seeing as Ratchet had filled him in on the small scene that had taken place before he left to come and get him from Morgenroete. Even though he was nearly finished with his work on the support OS, Erica allowed him some more time to visit the base as she knew that Kira was more concerned about Bumblebee since the scout was the first Autobot that Kira had ever met and he wanted to be there for his friend.

As they drove, Kira found himself thinking of something he had not thought about in a long time since he first met Bumblebee and decided now was as good a time as any to ask about it. "Hey Ratchet," Kira asked. "What happened to Bumblebee's voice box? I mean how did it end up…you know the way it is?"

"It was…severely damaged in battle," Ratchet replied with a slight stutter.

"I figured that much out, but I want to know how it happened," Kira clarified.

"How do you think?! Tragically of course," Ratchet snapped before regaining his composure and beginning the tale. "It happened at Tiger Pax. Our brave scout was captured by Megatron's forces and interrogated, but he refused to provide intel and paid a grave price for his courage. Bumblebee was left for scrap, but Autobot troops found him and evacuated him to a triage facility where a field medic managed to stabilize his condition."

"Wow," Kira breathed. "So I guess we owe Bumblebee's life to the field medic then."

"That's one way of looking at it. But the medic…could've done better," Ratchet stated sadly. The way Ratchet said that did not go unnoticed by Kira, and made Kira wonder why Ratchet thought that or stated that thought so sadly until he realized something.

"You were that field medic weren't you," Kira gasped.

"Yes…It was my greatest failure both as a medic and as Bumblebee's friend," Ratchet replied. "And now I've failed him again."

"You haven't failed Bumblebee Ratchet," Kira protested. "You're still trying to give him his voice back and now you're trying just as hard as the other Autobots to find out where Blue Cosmos took his T-Cog."

"Perhaps," Ratchet conceded. He then paused for a moment to think as he then softly stated, "But maybe there's something else I can do."

* * *

A short while later, Kira and Ratchet had arrived at the base to find that Optimus and Elita had returned from their search efforts. Sadly, they were no more successful in their efforts than anyone else had been recently, which left Bumblebee once again stating that he was useless, something that Cagalli had immediately argued against for what little good it did. After Kira found out that Bumblebee was in his quarters with Cagalli, Arcee and Ironhide, who were trying to cheer him up, he headed there to do what he could for his friend as well while Ratchet approached Optimus to discuss what he thought of as he was driving Kira here. "Bumblebee is right to be less than hopeful, but you and I both know there exists a way to make him whole again," Ratchet told Optimus.

"A transplant," Optimus replied. "But that would require a donor."

Optimus was moving to continue on his way to the _Omega II_ with Elita One when Ratchet spoke up stating, "You need look no further than the Autobot standing before you."

That caused both sparkmates to freeze in their tracks and turn to back and see that Ratchet was just as serious as his tone implied he was. "Are you sure about that Ratchet," Elita asked. "I mean the offer is generous to be certain, but your solution would just trade one Autobot's handicap for another's."

"I don't rely upon my T-Cog, not like Bumblebee does," Ratchet argued. "The ability to transform is virtually wasted on me. This is where I spend my days, where my thoughts and hands are of value, not my weapons or wheels. Our team can't afford to be shy even one warrior in the field."

"You make a compelling case," Optimus told his old friend. "But know that we will find Bumblebee's T-Cog."

"Optimus, I've read up on these Blue Cosmos terrorists and I know that they despise Coordinators who are merely beings of their own world with some genetic differences that grant them capabilities that Naturals don't posses, and we can only assume that they would be nothing more than savages to a Cybertronian. Who knows what damage they may have already inflicted upon it, or…or if I will be able to repair it?"

"Ratchet," Elita stated. "If this is about Bumblebee's voice box, you, Optimus, and I all know that you did everything in your power for him."

Ratchet froze for a moment before he scoffed, "Please, do you really think this is about my inability to restore Bumblebee's voice box? I…I just simply want to do what's right. For our scout. For the team."

After pausing for a moment to consider everything Ratchet had told him, and what might entail from this endeavor, Optimus finally gave Ratchet a conceding nod in agreement to Ratchet's plan.

* * *

A short while later, the other Autobots that were presently at the base had gathered together to make sure the surgery went smoothly. Since Ratchet was one of the patients involved, Elita had to act as his proxy in order to perform the surgery. This fact was very nerve racking for the dark pink femme to say the least, because while she did have extensive medical training she was not as good as Ratchet, and she never actually did an operation like this before so naturally she was entitled to being nervous.

"Hey does this mean that Bumblebee's going to turn into an ambulance from now on? 'Cause that would be really weird," Tolle commented, getting everyone to give him a look that clearly stated "Are you seriously asking that right now?" Tolle just shrugged and stated, "Just trying to diffuse the tension."

"Inducing stasis," Elita announced.

Before he fell into stasis, Ratchet heard Bumblebee buzz his thanks to the medic, to which Ratchet replied, "Ep ep ep! You can…thank me when…it's over." With that Ratchet fell into stasis.

"Okay Bumblebee, your turn," Elita announced. Before she had a chance to induce stasis for the scout though, the computer alerted them to an incoming transmission.

"Prime, its Lord Uzumi," Jazz called out.

_"__Autobots, I hope this isn't a bad time,"_ Uzumi stated. _"But I have just acquired information on a possible Blue Cosmos base that might be the one you have been searching for."_

Bumblebee was up and off his bed instantly at that. "You are certain of this Lord Uzumi," Optimus asked.

_"__Yes. There is no mistake."_

Optimus looked over to Bumblebee and knew that the scout would want to come with them, but without his wheels or default blasters Bumblebee would likely be a serious risk. All the same, Optimus knew his young friend would refuse to just sit by while his friends did everything they could just to make him whole again given the look in Bumblebee's eyes that showed he was not going to let anyone try and stop him from coming, not even Optimus himself. "Elita, interrupt Ratchet's induced stasis and man the Ground Bridge," Optimus ordered. "Autobots, prepare to roll out!"

Bumblebee looked around as the others moved to get ready and then asked, **_"What about me? Are you going to make me stay behind again?"_**

Optimus just gave Bumblebee a small look as he stated, "Did you not hear my orders Bumblebee? I said Autobots, prepare to roll out. That includes you, but I would advise you bring additional extra weapons this time to compensate for the lack of your ability to access your blasters."

Bumblebee trilled excitedly at that and headed for the weapons locker to do just that. Not a moment later, the Autobots were racing through the Ground Bridge to the Blue Cosmos base.

* * *

A team of Earth Forces soldiers who were directly under Azrael's command were moving multiple crates of energon into the base while the scientists in the base were transfusing the energon they already had into the prototype transforming mobile weapon. As this was going on, Azrael was watching on with a hidden glee and excitement that could only be matched by a kid in a candy store alongside his new business partner, Starscream. "I must say Commander Starscream, I was skeptical about accepting your proposal at first, but now it seems that we may be facing a very beneficial partnership from this one endeavor alone. I can only begin to imagine what the future may hold in store from working together with you," Azrael commented.

"Ah yes," Starscream agreed. "Energon certainly has a way of cementing a deal even with non-Cybertronians, and it will do wonders for both yours and our future army. In fact, we are mere moments from beholding the miracle of transformation."

"Now that is certainly exciting to say the least." Azrael then paused before looking directly at Starscream. "I must say though I find one thing rather curious. You provide us with the knowledge of how to extract these T-Cogs from Cybertronians, and yet you don't seem too concerned over what may happen if this experiment fails. What if it causes the T-Cog to be seriously damaged beyond its usefulness and we decide that we can't wait to pull one from another Autobot and instead take yours?"

Starscream merely scoffed at that notion. "Do you really think I would approach you with this information and then approach you for an alliance without having a few contingency plans in place? Unlike Megatron, I am no fool who takes unnecessary risks needlessly when there are better options. Why I find that many of our battles with the Autobots would have ended in the Decepticons favor had my former lord and master listened to me when he had the chance, and what did I get for my efforts of pointing that out afterwards? Nothing more than severe damage as I was treated as a bunching slab for Megatron to take his frustration out on."

"Well I certainly hope your contingency is as effective in protecting yourself as your need to talk so much is in being annoying," Azrael commented, clearly referring to Starscream's tendency to seem to never shut up.

"Uh…sorry. Old habits die hard. It's really something I normally do to ease my nerves and when one is on the brink of success…well they are more than entitled to some sense of nervousness," Starscream explained.

"Well I suppose I can't argue with that," Azrael agreed. Just before they could continue their conversation though, there was a loud bang that shook the whole facility. A few more bangs later and nearly all of the Autobots, save for the ones that had remained at their base, burst through the door, weapons drawn.

"Blue Cosmos," Optimus shouted. "I believe you have something that belongs to one of my men."

Starscream took a quick glance and saw Bumblebee was among the group. "Target the scout! Without his T-Cog he's unarmed," he cried out. Despite not knowing for certain which one Starscream was referring to when he said scout, Blue Cosmos was still able to get what he was telling them when they recognized Bumblebee and opened fire.

**_"_****_Not as unarmed as you may think Starscream,"_** Bumblebee buzzed in retort as he whipped out an Energon Battle Pistol and opened fire on the Seeker at once, with the other Autobots moving in and carefully firing shots of their own so that they did not directly harm any of their human opponents.

It was not an easy battle for the Autobots, considering that their opponents were humans, but they were able to do what they could against them as Jazz used an EMP grenade to disable the weapons they were using and Wheeljack slashed apart some supports to drive a few of them away from him. Many of the other Autobots were doing everything they could against the human soldiers without harming them, but even so they were all more than tempted after what they had done to Bumblebee.

Speaking of Bumblebee, the scout was doing very well for someone who had no access to his default weapons and vehicle mode. He made sure to use his Energon Battle Pistol as carefully as possible as he fired upon the enemy humans, and at one point used some fallen rumble to block their shots and disable one of the large cannons that they had rolled into the room at one point during the fight, eliminating the cannons before they became a problem. To be honest one would think that Bumblebee had been fighting without the ability to transform for some time now, but it was still not enough. Sometime during the fight though, Starscream had decided enough was enough and shouted out, "Stand down Autobots, or your scout's precious bio-mech will end up being scrapped."

The Autobots all turned to see Starscream had Bumblebee's T-Cog in his hand and his blaster pointed right at it. The Autobots were instantly on the defensive and deactivating and holstering their weapons. Starscream nodded to Azrael to evacuate his men at once, which the blond haired man gladly did as he warned Starscream to make sure he had the T-Cog with him. "Oh you poor little scout," Starscream mocked as he gazed upon Bumblebee's fearful face. "How it must pain you to be such a failure as an Autobot, to no longer be able to assume vehicle mode. It really is quite pathetic, so much so that I almost feel bad for telling them how to extract a T-Cog. Almost."

Bumblebee growled in anger at the Seeker, now that he knew who told Blue Cosmos how to take his T-Cog, and would have charged Starscream right then had something not stopped him. "You're wrong! Bumblebee's the best with or without his T-Cog," Arcee shouted.

"Ya got that right Cee," Jazz agreed. "In case you hadn't noticed, Bumblebee owned this battlefield like I own a dance floor when I got my groove on."

"I've trained a lot of Bots in my time fighting in the war, and I have never encountered a tougher Bot than Bumblebee," Ironhide added.

"As you can see Starscream, the only one here would be described as pathetic would be you, because you have no one to stand with you when you need them the most like how Bumblebee has had every Autobot here to support him in this difficult time. Even when it seemed like he did not want them, every Autobot was more than willing to go as far as they could for the sake of our brave, young scout," Optimus finished.

"Well then I hope he continues to have your support in the tough times he shall face soon enough," Starscream snarled as he charged his blaster. Before he could fire on the bio-mech though, he was hit by a hard fist to the back of his head, and the T-Cog was knocked out of his hand and into the waiting hands of Arcee. Starscream spun around and saw a smug looking Wheeljack standing there with a sword pointed at his throat. Not wanting to be taken out just yet, Starscream quickly fired one of his missiles into the ceiling case a large amount of rumble to start falling. The Autobots quickly made for the exit, allowing Starscream to escape in the confusion.

As soon as they were outside, Arcee walked over to her friend with his T-Cog in hand as she told him, "I believe this belongs to you."

Bumblebee gave a whir of joy and looked like he was about to cry with happiness at the sight of his T-Cog, and gave Arcee a big hug which Arcee returned a moment later. "Uh hey, what about me," Wheeljack spoke up. "I was the one who made Screamer drop the thing, don't I get a hug?"

"Let 'em have their moment Jackie," Bulkhead told his old friend. "Besides you'd punch him if he got even close to trying to give you a hug."

"Yeah you're probably right," Wheeljack admitted. Seeing that they had no further business at what was once a Blue Cosmos headquarters and research facility, Optimus contacted the base and requested a Ground Bridge while telling both Elita and Ratchet, who had finally come out of his induced stasis fully, to prepare for surgery.

* * *

A few tense hours later, Bumblebee was lying back on a bed with Ratchet running a scan over his patient, hoping that everything worked out alright. It turned out that his T-Cog had suffered some damage from Blue Cosmos poking around at it and Ratchet was not sure he would be able to repair it. The medic was still willing to donate his cog to Bumblebee, but the young scout refused saying that he could not and would not accept the offer. After deactivating his scanner, Ratchet turned around and told everyone, "I…did what I could."

Seeing that his old friend needed some reassurance, Optimus walked over and stated with full confidence, "Our scout could not have been in better hands old friend."

A slight whir drew everyone's attention over to the patient, and they all saw Bumblebee standing up and start to stretch and rotate his arms a bit. "Bumblebee easy," Ratchet warned the scout, but Bumblebee just continued with his small stretching as he tested his arms with a few swings. "Please recovery takes time," Ratchet now begged.

Bumblebee then held his arms out before him as he attempted to transform, but he was only able to shift some his body for a moment before it reverted back to how it was. **_"Huh,"_** was all the scout could think of to beep.

"The damage was…severe," Ratchet told Bumblebee as he hung his head. Not wanting to give up though, Bumblebee attempted to transform again with a bit more luck but with the same results. Ratchet could hardly bare to watch as the scout seemed he was about to give up, but Bumblebee gave one more try and finally the familiar sound of his vehicle mode's engine reached Ratchet's ears. He looked up and his face lit up with joy at seeing that Bumblebee was able to successfully attain vehicle mode again.

The whole room became alight with cheers of joy and congratulations from both Autobots and humans alike as Bumblebee revved up his engine and spun around. He then opened one door and called out, **_"Hey Kira, if you're still able to take some time off anywhere you want to go?"_**

Kira grinned in excitement and joy for his friend as he replied, "Anywhere, just drive!" With that said, Kira had eagerly hopped into Bumblebee's vehicle mode, and the overjoyed scout gladly raced out of the base.

"Go easy," Ratchet called out after them with a chuckle. "Adhere to standard braking procedure."

"Whoa, from what the doc was saying, Bee's T-Cog was nearly ready for the scrap heap," Wheeljack commented.

"Hard to believe that Ratchet was able to repair it," Arcee agreed.

"That is not all that Ratchet repaired today," Optimus told everyone. Everyone turned to look at the medical Autobot who was standing tall and proud of his success and saw that Optimus was correct. Ratchet was able to repair both his friend's T-Cog, and his confidence in himself.

* * *

During that time, Starscream was leading both Azrael and the Earth Forces commanders to an undisclosed location, as Azrael had insisted that if Starscream was serious about continuing this alliance, then he needed to prove that they would not need to extract Starscream's T-Cog in order to further their plans. The men on the Earth Forces command staff were more than skeptical about the supposed enemy turned friend, so naturally Starscream should have been a nervous wreck. The surprising thing though, was that Starscream was incredibly calm and had a confident smirk on his face as he walked. At last they reached their destination and Starscream called out, "Sharpshot, we have guests."

Immediately the three Insecticons appeared from the cave that Starscream had led his new supposed partners to and they assumed their robot mode a moment later. "What izzz it Starscream," Sharpshot demanded.

"I would like you to meet some new business partners of ours," Starscream stated as he gestured to Azrael and the Admirals that had come with them. "And they're working on a very interesting military project that requires a donation of T-Cogs. Perhaps you could show them why the Insecticons would provide them with a near infinite supply of them?"

Sharpshot nodded, and then began to focus along with Hardshell and Kickback. A moment later, a duplicate of each of the three Insecticons appeared before them all and each one instantly transformed into their bug modes to show just what Starscream meant. "As you can see gentlemen," Starscream explained. "There is no need to harvest T-Cogs from either myself or my three associates, as Sharpshot and his brothers are able to copy themselves and thus produce perfect copies of their T-Cogs. I trust that shall be to your satisfaction?"

The admirals and Azrael muttered amongst themselves for a moment, before returning their attention to Starscream as Azrael said, "Starscream, welcome to the Earth Forces."

Starscream smirked as he stated, "For the preservation of both your blue and pure world, and our great and mighty Cybertron."

* * *

**_AN: So now you can see and have probably already guessed that the M.E.C.H. of this story is actually Blue Cosmos, and eventually Logos. Don't think this means that Nemesis Prime will appear in this story though, as you may not see that much more of their work with this in this story beyond modifying certain enemies that the Autobots and Kira will face. If you've seen Gundam SEED then you might know who I'm talking about, but please don't say anything and give it away? Now other than that I can't really say if there will be anything else they will do with that in this story, but the projects undertaken by Blue Cosmos and Starscream will actually be further expanded upon in the sequel to this story as they will have a more major part to play in the that story than they will in this one. It's all about overall plot, one thing that leads to another, and all that. Anyways, if you think that pretty much wraps up Decepticon Team Starscream then you are mistaken, and you will see why in the last chapter of the Orb Missions Arc, which is not next chapter, so preview time!_**

**_The past is meant to remain in the past, but for Arcee it seems that history is attempting to repeat itself. As the blue femme and Cagalli travel a forest in search of a new energon source, an old ghost from Arcee's past returns and throws the normally confident, collected warrior into a panic. Just what is it about this enemy that has Arcee so fearful for her life, or is it really her life that she is fearful for? Can Cagalli help Arcee combat this old demon, or will something happen that puts them both in danger of falling into a stronger web of despair? Next time on Mobile Suit Gundam SEED: Prime…_****Chapter 17: A Spider's Web****_. Conquer that fiend who hides in the shadows as she stalks her prey Arcee!_**

**_Please read and review, and I'll see you next time!_**


	17. 17: A Spider's Web

_**AN: Ladies, gentlemen, Autobots, and Decepticons, we are now at the second to last chapter of the Orb Missions Arc. When I first watched the episode of Transformers Prime this chapter is based on, my first thoughts were that it seemed a lot like a Transformers horror movie and can you blame me? Anyhow, after this and the chapter that will be posted after it, the Orb Missions Arc will be at an end and then its back to the same old same old of the Bloody Valentine War for the **_**Archangel_. So until then, enjoy this chapter and I hope you're looking forward to the next one._**

**_I do not own anything from either the Gundam or Transformers franchises._**

* * *

**Chapter 17: A Spider's Web**

They often say the woods can be a scary and dangerous place, but at the moment the only thing Cagalli found that were scary and dangerous about the woods she and Arcee were traveling through were the number of bugs that were trying to make a meal out of her. "What is with all these pesky things? Do I really look like some kind of five star buffet to them or something," Cagalli shouted out, now completely annoyed.

"You're certainly the outdoors-woman aren't you Cagalli," Arcee teased as she glanced up from the scanner she held in her hand.

"Don't think I don't know that you're making fun of the survival kit I brought along on this routine energon locater mission Arcee," Cagalli smirked in reply.

"Wouldn't dream of thinking otherwise. I'm just surprised that the girl that was such a fire cracker in the desert is having a tough time with the big woods."

"Hey the desert is completely different from the woods. Besides, I was with the Desert Dawn at the time so I don't think that really counts as credit for my outdoor survival skills. Though it did help me to make sure I prepared for everything even on a routine mission, even if I don't have stinger proof metal skin," Cagalli retorted as she gave her holstered gun and backpack strap a small pat.

"Well you have your tools, and I have mine so I guess that makes us even."

"I'm just surprised there are this many bugs out here. I mean did we even have to deal with any bugs while we were stranded on that island with…you know."

Arcee did not need to see Cagalli's face to know she was talking about the island they were stranded on with Athrun and Dreadwing. "Well like you said back then. It was a rather tiny island, so I don't think so." Just as she said that, Arcee's scanner went off and pointed them in a westward direction. "That's odd. Ratchet's satellite scans were accurate, but subterranean energon deposits don't cause this kind of surge."

"Well what do you think it is?"

"Only one way to find out." With that the two marched off towards the reading that Arcee's scanner was pointing them to, all the while thinking about how the two of them had ended up in this situation.

* * *

_It was another peaceful morning at the Autobot base until Arcee rolled in with Cagalli complaining as loudly as possible. What it was, no one was really paying that much attention to really care, but they were pretty sure it was something to do with her father since that was Cagalli's favorite thing to complain about. The problem was she was complaining so loudly and obviously that it was already starting to get on everyone's nerves. "Cagalli would you please quiet down a little bit?! Need I remind you I have a patient who is still recovering from both surgery and a very traumatic experience," Ratchet hollered gesturing to Bumblebee as he mentioned that last part._

**"****Hey! Leave me out of this Ratchet,"**_Bumblebee buzzed at the medical Autobot._

_Cagalli was about to retort when the computer's alarm began to go off. Ratchet was about to find out why when Sai, who was already there along with Miriallia and Tolle, beat him to it. "The scan's picked up on a small underground energon deposit somewhere in a forest in America," the glasses wearing boy reported as he looked up from the laptop he was using._

_Ratchet double checked behind Sai and confirmed that he was correct. "It doesn't look like much, at least in terms of what Megatron would normally send Decepticons to look into, but it might be an abandoned mine as well."_

_ "__Either way we should still investigate this latest find as quickly as possible," Optimus told Ratchet. "Arcee will Ground Bridge to the sight and investigate the location."_

_ "__Understood Optimus," Arcee replied._

_ "__Do us a favor and take Cagalli with you," Ratchet half moaned, half pleaded. _

_ "__I don't think that's such a good idea," Arcee argued._

_ "__This should be nothing more than a simple routine energon locator mission Arcee. Cagalli would not be in any danger especially so long as she remains with you," Optimus reasoned._

_Arcee finally conceded and agreed to bring Cagalli along, which seemed to give the blonde haired girl the uplift her spirit needed. A short while later, after Cagalli had gathered together her "survival kit", the two were on their way to the woods._

* * *

"Arcee? Earth to Arcee. Hey Arcee," Cagalli called out, snapping Arcee out of her flashback.

"What? What is it," Arcee asked as she shook her head for a moment. She then noticed her scan was going off like crazy, and upon looking up Arcee noticed that the scanner was going off for the same reason that Cagalli was trying to get her attention. A large amount of the trees had collapsed, clearly having been destroyed like they were knocked down by a hurricane, and there was a major amount of rock, dirt, and mud that had been piled up to form a large ditch that led to the top of a nearby mountain.

"What could've happened here," Cagalli finally asked, her tone showing just how horrible she thought this kind of destruction was.

"Crash landing most likely," Arcee replied, instantly getting on guard. "Stay behind me. Low and close."

The two then slowly made their way down the hillside and towards the end of the ditch to see just what had crash landed, taking cover behind some trees every now and then just to be safe. Finally, they reached the end of the ditch and saw a large ship that was partially hidden by the small amount of fog that had fallen in the woods before they arrived, but it was not hidden enough for them to be unable to tell that the ship was definitely Cybertronian. "Do you think it's an Autobot or Decepticon ship," Cagalli asked.

"Can't tell. Wait here," Arcee ordered Cagalli as she quickly switched her right hand into her default blaster. Arcee then moved swiftly and quietly towards the ship's open hatch, taking a slight note of the scratches on the side of the hull that must have resulted from the crash landing. As soon as she was at the hatch, she spun towards the opening with her blaster forward, only to find nothing there which gave her enough reason to go inside. Though what she saw inside was not something pleasant, and it made her sick to her stomach. Inside the ship were the heads of numerous different alien life forms.

* * *

Cagalli continued to watch as Arcee did all this, starting to get a bit nervous herself, surprisingly. A moment later though that bit of nervousness became a major amount of concern as Arcee had come racing out of the ship a moment later not looking so good.

"Arcee," Cagalli called out as she raced over. The closer Cagalli got to Arcee, the more worried for the female Autobot she became as she could see Arcee had an extremely frightened and haunted look on her face. "Arcee what's wrong?"

"I…I know who this ship belongs to," Arcee answered, a slight amount of fear creeping into her voice. Arcee then reached up to her comm. link and radioed the base, "Arcee to base. I need a Ground Bridge ASAP."

"Wait, why? Whose ship is this," Cagalli asked, but Arcee just seemed to ignore her as the Autobot continued to try to radio the Autobot base.

"Base do you read me," Arcee radioed again, before she growled in annoyance. "Scrap, the comm. link's dead. The ship's gotta be transmitting a high frequency scrambler pulse."

Cagalli then reached up to try her own comm. link, but sadly she received the same results as Arcee. She then turned back to Arcee, and upon noticing that Arcee seemed to be shaking a little, Cagalli became really worried. "Okay seriously Arcee, you're starting to freak me out here, and you know that's not an easy thing to do."

"Wait here," Arcee told Cagalli quietly. She then stared at a small group of trees and moved towards them. As she got closer, Arcee could see numerous scratches on the trunks and a strange set of foot prints on the ground as she kneeled down to get a closer look. The moment she did, a very horrible and painful memory started to flood her processor, so much so that she barely registered Cagalli moving closer to her until the blonde was right next to her and calling out her name.

As soon as she had snapped Arcee back to her senses, Cagalli had expected a full explanation of what was going on with the blue femme. Unfortunately, the only response Cagalli got was Arcee transforming into her motorcycle form and telling her, "Climb on."

Knowing that now was probably not the best time for her to confront her friend on this matter, Cagalli silently obliged and climbed aboard the two-wheeler, grabbing her helmet from her backpack as she did. As soon as Cagalli had situated herself on the bike, Arcee took off at full speed, barely even noticing Cagalli's cries of surprise and shock as she did. After she had gone a certain distance, right to the point of jumping over a small gap, Arcee finally came to a halt, and Cagalli pulled off her helmet now seriously getting pissed. "Was that really necessary Arcee," Cagalli demanded.

Arcee just ignored her as Cagalli climbed off. "Arcee to base…scrap still no good," Arcee muttered after trying to reach the Autobots again.

"Arcee whatever is going on I can handle it. I have faced danger plenty of times before as you well…"

"Wait here, and this time I mean it," Arcee interrupted as she started to roll forward a bit.

Now Cagalli was really upset. "So first you shut me out and now you're ditching me? I thought we were partners!"

Arcee then transformed and faced Cagalli directly. "No Cagalli you're a kid! And a daughter of a government figurehead at that! You're only here because this mission was supposed to be no risk, got it," Arcee snapped. Cagalli could do nothing more than stare in shock as Arcee then spun around and transformed before racing off back in the direction they had come from.

After she had gone a fair distance, Arcee finally transformed to robot mode again and armed her right blaster once more, her guard up so high that even Optimus probably would have had a hard time reaching the top of its height. Arcee walked forward as she looked around, optics and audio receptors open for anything, until she saw the remains of a tree stump that were clearly melted away by some form of acid-like substance. An acid-like substance that Arcee knew all too well from having experienced it one dreadful day back on Cybertron. The day her unit was wiped out.

* * *

_The sound of weapons fire filled the skies of Cybertron, as the war between Autobots and Decepticons raged on in all its furry. Though it was only in the background, the young, eager Arcee could not help but be saddened by it as she ran across the metal surface of Cybertron behind enemy lines to reach her squad. She quickly shook herself out of her musings though as she had other things to worry about at the moment. "Arcee to delta team. Requesting rendezvous coordinates, do you copy," Arcee called over her radio._

"Arcee are you lost again? You're sense of direction could use some improvement," _a male voice replied, which brought a smirk to Arcee's face as she recognized that voice._

_ "__So could you're aim Tailgate. If you had tagged that sniper back at the depot, I wouldn't have had to break rank and engage the enemy hand-to-hand," Arcee told her teammate and friend._

"Well from the sound of things, I'm guessing you came out ahead?"

_"__Try waiting up for me this time and I'll give you the blow-by-blow. What's your position" Arcee asked Tailgate as she finally slowed to a walking pace, her blaster armed just in case._

"About half a click from the depot, due north,"_ Tailgate replied. _"Think you can find it partner?"

_"__Trust me Tailgate, my navigation abilities are-." Before Arcee could finish her sentence, a large, sticky, web-like substance shot out and pinned her to a wall, rendering her unable to move. She could only get a small glance at the silhouette of her attacker, before said attacker shot another web at Arcee and knocked her out cold._

_A short while after she had regained consciousness, Arcee found herself tied up and hanging down from the ceiling. As she struggled to get free, a smooth, feminine voice from behind her spoke up saying, "Piece of advice, make yourself comfortable. You're going to be here a while."_

_Arcee looked up to see a femme 'Con with black armor that had purple and gold highlights, and purple eyes that just glistened with dark intent and screamed that she was more than looking forward to enjoying the torment that her captive was about to endure, but the thing that stuck out the most about her, was the fact that she had six legs coming out of her back that had a spider like appearance to them, and somehow they made her seem all the more dangerous._

* * *

A short distance away from Arcee's current position, the same 'Con that Arcee was just thinking about was watching a group of human campers through her heat vision, and silently smirked to herself in enjoyment at the fact that she was about to give humanity a taste of her sting as she leapt onto her spider legs. Before she could move close enough to strike however, a blue blur hit her in the side and both were sent tumbling through the forest away from the campers until the 'Con finally forced whatever or whoever had hit her off of her and into the side of a nearby, rocky hill. She then got back on her feet and then smirked once more at the sight of a familiar, blue, pissed off Autobot femme.

"Arcee," the spider 'Con mused in enjoyment. "Small universe."

"Too small Airachnid," Arcee retorted with a glare.

"You're still holding a grudge? The war's been over for mega cycles," Airachnid mocked.

"Tell that to the Decepticons," Arcee snapped as she moved into a fighting stance.

"These days I travel solo in pursuit of my new hobby."

"Yeah I got a look at your souvenir case," Arcee snarled.

"You mean my trophies? I collect endangered species. Of course they aren't really endangered until they meet me, and I have a slot reserved for humans," Airachnid commented in a sickeningly proud tone.

"Not gonna happen," Arcee declared, and she then charged forward before lunging right at the spider-like Decepticon, tackling her to the ground once again. She then raised her fist to strike, but Airachnid used one of her spider legs to grab hold of Arcee's arm and then tossed the two-wheeler into another rock side.

Airachnid wiped her face a bit, thinking she had Arcee beat with that, but she was soon proven wrong as Arcee sprung up and fired both of her blasters at Airachnid. Airachnid quickly took advantage of her extra mobility and jumped out of the way and through the trees to avoid Arcee's fire, and then retaliated by wrapping Arcee's arms in a pair of webs that she shot at the Bot. Arcee did not even bother trying to get free at first, as she then gave the web a hard pull, bringing Airachnid down to the ground. Arcee then sliced the webs off with her arm blades and quickly resumed firing on Airachnid a few seconds later.

Airachnid quickly returned fire by firing blasts from her hands, but Arcee quickly proved that Airachnid was not the only one that could be extremely versatile in the forest. She ran through Airachnid's rain of lasers and leaped from a strong tree branch to another tree, before diving down and delivering a hard kick to Airachnid's chest, pinning her down beneath her pedes. Arcee then moved to aim her blasters at the spider-like Transformer at point blank range, when the sound of falling rocks drew their attention. Arcee gasped as she saw that on top of the hill, was a familiar blonde haired, green vested girl staring down at the two in shock and concern.

Airachnid quickly took advantage of Arcee's moment of distraction at seeing Cagalli, and knocked Arcee off of her before pinning her to the hillside with her webbing. Arcee struggled to get free as she saw Cagalli running towards her and calling out her name in concern, gaining Airachnid's attention. Arcee worked as quickly as she could, and finally managed to get one of her arms free enough to fire at Airachnid and render the overgrown spider unconscious. She then turned to Cagalli as the blonde finally came to a stop in front of her as she shouted, "I told you to wait for me."

"Well in case you haven't heard, partners don't ditch partners," Cagalli retorted as she moved to try and cut Arcee free of the webs.

"Get this through your head Cagalli. You're not my partner, you're a liability," Arcee snapped.

"Do you seriously think that after all this time I would even remotely believe that," Cagalli retorted. She then looked Arcee in the eye as she calmly stated, "I know you Arcee, because you and I are a lot alike. I can see it in your eyes that you're afraid, and like me you're never afraid."

Arcee was shocked at Cagalli's words, and then hung her head as she knew that Cagalli's statement was not entirely true.

* * *

_Airachnid simply strutted around Arcee with a smirk as the Autobot continued to hang from where she was being held. For the past few hours, Airachnid had tried everything she could to get information out of Arcee, but the blue femme simply would not talk, and refused to tell her anything at all. "You know for an Autobot your resilience is quite impressive," Airachnid commented._

_Arcee did not answer as she continued to just gaze down in silence. "In fact, I'm guessing that no matter what I do to you, you'll never crack. Am I right?"_

_This time Arcee just raised her head to glare at Airachnid, which was all the confirmation that the 'Con needed. A moment later, the doors opened, and two Decepticons dragged someone in. Someone that Arcee recognized only a few seconds later as the battered and beaten form of her partner. _

_ "__Tailgate," Arcee whispered in fear. Tailgate did not answer as he was lifted up and restrained by the same type of restraints that currently held Arcee. "What've you done to him," Arcee demanded of Airachnid._

_ "__Nothing much. Yet," Airachnid replied casually. "Though I will admit, he was the most resilient out of your entire unit, and so far the only one to have survived."_

_ "__No," Arcee quietly gasped._

_ "__Oh yes," Airachnid replied with glee. "The mighty Omnicons have been all but eliminated save for the two of you. Just tell me what I want to know or…well, you're smart Bot. I think you can imagine what happens to Tailgate next, and what that will mean for you and the Omnicons."_

_ "__I don't know the attack coordinates," Arcee told her._

_Airachnid sneered at Arcee's response and began to walk slowly towards Tailgate. "I swear upon the AllSpark, it's the truth," Arcee insisted as she started to struggle against her restraints again._

_ "__We shall see," Airachnid replied. As soon as she was close enough, she raised one of her sharp, spider appendages towards Tailgate's chest._

_ "__No. Please," Arcee started begging, desperate to save her partner and her apparently only remaining team member. Sadly, Arcee's pleas had fallen on deaf audio receptors, and she could only watch in horror as Airachnid struck Tailgate's spark, ending his life._

_ "__TAILGATE," Arcee shouted in despair, as tears began running down her face and she silently began to wish that her sister, Chromia, or even her friends, Cliffjumper and Bumblebee, were there right now, but sadly they were not and she seemed to be alone._

* * *

Arcee was gazing off into the distant as she could not help but recall that moment of that terrible day, before she shook her head and looked back at Cagalli, and told her, "You're right. You're right Cagalli I am afraid. Of losing you."

Cagalli paused in trying to free Arcee for a moment before looking to Arcee in shock, having been hit hard with that great realization. As she gazed at Arcee's worried face, Cagalli could not help but understand why Arcee was so concerned with her, and feel that she understood why Arcee seemed to prefer spending time with her more than Kira or any of the others. Cagalli continued to stare at Arcee in surprise and could not help but wonder if what she was feeling right then was what it was like to have an older sister.

"You sure have trouble hanging on to your partners don't you," Airachnid's voice suddenly called out, getting both the Orb princess and the Autobot warrior's attention in time to see that the 'Con was on her spider legs once again slowly moving towards them.

"We both know what happened to Tailgate, and not to mention the rest of the Omnicons," Airachnid continued in her same mocking tone and twisted smile. "But I recently picked up some Decepticon radio chatter regarding the passing of your old friend Cliffjumper. It seems that not even having an old friend as your partner can save them, so at some point you should really ask yourself Arcee: is it them, or is it me?"

Arcee glared at Airachnid for a moment before turning back to Cagalli as best she could and practically screamed, "Do you get it now Cagalli? She's not interested in me. She hunts indigenous species, and she's on Earth. That means humans! It means you! RUN!"

Cagalli did not need to be told more than once anymore, especially after Airachnid made sure to pin Arcee more securely to the rock side with another blast of webbing, and was off in a flash, running as fast as she could to get away from the spider-like 'Con.

Airachnid chuckled as she stalked up to Arcee until she was right in her face. "And that's why I now prefer to work alone," Airachnid stated. "It's so sad when bad things happen to those close to you, but don't get me wrong. I fully intend to snuff out your spark, and believe me, I will make it hurt. But that won't compare to the pain you'll feel knowing I'm adding your human to my collection."

The two continued to watch for a moment as Cagalli paused for a bit to look back before she continued to run, neither one of them noticing that she had pulled something from a compartment on her belt as she did. Airachnid then leapt away from Arcee and began to go after Cagalli on her spider like legs as Arcee called out to Cagalli in fear.

* * *

Cagalli continued to run as hard as she could, knowing that stopping for a moment would give Airachnid a chance to catch up with her completely. She could already see the spider-like 'Con behind her and getting closer. Cagalli then pivoted around a small group of trees and stopped for a moment as she held her breath.

"Are you really giving up now little girl," Airachnid called out, sounding mildly disappointed. "And here I thought a human that spent so much time with Arcee would try harder to make this interesting."

Airachnid soon found that her sentiments were correct as she rounded the bend that Cagalli had ducked behind, and received a blast of energon to her face, courtesy of Cagalli and her energon pistol that she had taken to carry instead of her previous hand gun. Cagalli fired off a few more rounds to drive Airachnid further back before she herself spun around and bolted again, reloading her gun as she went.

Airachnid was surprised at first that Cagalli's weapon could actually hurt her, but quickly brushed it off and chuckled as she called out, "Now that's more like it. Really, that's the spirit Cagalli. Keep playing hard to get."

_Oh I intend to be more than just hard to get you overgrown insect_, Cagalli thought to herself, knowing already what she had to try to do in order to stop Airachnid for good, but not knowing that if anyone had heard her previous thought they would have corrected her by saying that spiders were arachnids and not insects.

* * *

While Airachnid was giving chase after Cagalli, Arcee was still struggling as hard as she could and then some against the webs, all the while continuing to think back to the horrible day on which she first met Airachnid, and on which she had sworn to get revenge on said 'Con had it not been for one Bot, who at the time could still use his own voice.

* * *

_Arcee could do nothing more than continue to stare at where Tailgate had just been, her mind a complete blank at the loss of her partner, and barely registering the fact that Airachnid was moving her sharp, pointed tendon towards her now. She did not care though, because now she was welcoming death, but at the same time she was promising in her mind that she would get this sick femme back for what she had done if she got free from this prison._

_Not a minute later, Arcee's prayers for a rescue were answered, as one of the walls was blasted open causing Airachnid to snarl in anger and race off to get away. Emerging only a second after the spider-like 'Con had begun to run, the ever familiar yellow and black of the Autobots' most famous scout had rushed in blasters firing on the retreating 'Con. Bumblebee continued to fire on the other Decepticons that were still in the room, foolish enough to not try and flee when he had rushed in, while Cliffjumper ran in from behind him over to where Arcee was being held._

_As soon as the room was cleared, Bumblebee switched his blasters back into hands and looked over to Cliffjumper, only to gasp in shock at who was rescuing. "ARCEE," Bumblebee cried out. "Hang on 'Cee, you're gonna be okay."_

_As Cliffjumper cut Arcee free from her restraints and set her down on the ground, Arcee looked up towards the voice that had just spoken to her. "Bumblebee, is that you," Arcee moaned._

_ "__Yeah 'Cee it's me, and Cliffjumper's here too," Bumblebee replied._

_Arcee could only stare at the two in shock as Bumblebee moved to lift Arcee up with Cliffjumper helping him support her until they were finally outside, and finally what was left of Arcee's reserves had finally collapsed as she broke down in tears against her two friends thanking them over and over again while at the same time moaning, "I couldn't save them…I couldn't save my unit…I couldn't save my partner…it's all my fault…I should've been the one who…"_

_ "__STOP RIGHT THERE 'CEE," Cliffjumper shouted. "You did everything you could, but none of this was your fault."_

_Arcee finally pulled herself together as she stated, "You're right Cliff it wasn't my fault. It was Airachnid's, and I'm going to make sure she pays for what she's done."_

_Bumblebee gave her a worried look as he exchanged a concerned glance with Cliffjumper before finally saying, "Arcee if you go after her like that, then you'll be letting her win, and you'll be no better than another 'Con. The best way to make her pay is to make sure she can never hurt someone again by bringing her down with the rest of the Decepticons and ending this war for good, and always remember that no matter what you should just keep driving."_

_ "__How can you be so sure of that," Arcee asked._

_ "__Because I know it's possible and because I can tell we will stop the Decepticons. I've known all that ever since I met him and joined his team." Bumblebee paused for a moment to consider something before he then told his old friend. "You know, he might actually have an open spot on his team if you're interested, and there would be no better way for you to honor the Omnicons' memory than by joining him."_

_Arcee stopped to think for a bit as her head began to clear, helping her to realize that Bumblebee was right. She then softly smiled to herself as she thought that there was hardly ever a time that the scout was ever wrong about this type of thing and then turned back to him and asked, "Whose unit are you talking about exactly?"_

_Bumblebee smiled at his friend as he replied with just one word. "Optimus's."_

* * *

That was probably the only part of that day that Arcee actually did not mind remembering as much since it was thanks to Bumblebee and Cliffjumper that she was alive now and was still alive today, and it was thanks to them that she found herself a new place on Optimus's team. Though she remembered all of that somewhat fondly, Arcee could not help but scold herself for forgetting that lesson that Bumblebee had tried to teach her back then. "Cagalli I'm so sorry," Arcee moaned. "I should've remembered Bumblebee's advice from all those years ago. I should've never looked back and just…," Arcee then paused before a stroke of genius struck her as she finished, "kept driving."

Arcee then pushed forward against the webs with all her might until she had just enough space to transform into her vehicle mode. Arcee then revved up her engines and used every ounce of horse power she could muster as she pushed against the webs even harder than before. With one last push on her engines, Arcee finally broke free of the webs and was quickly on her way to Cagalli's position, smirking in pride to herself when she saw where the tracking signal Cagalli had on her was heading.

* * *

"You're starting to make this too easy Cagalli, and I do not enjoy being bored," Airachnid called out. For some time now, Cagalli had been leading her to Primus only knows where to in this forest, pausing every now and again to try and shoot her with the energon pistol that the blonde was carrying. Needless to say, Airachnid was not joking when she told Cagalli that she was getting bored and did not enjoy being anything like that. Finally, Airachnid could see that Cagalli was leading her to a familiar clearing and saw that the blonde had led her to her own ship.

Airachnid quickly jumped down the mountain as she smirked in amusement and intrigue as she wondered whatever the young human girl could hope to accomplish by doing this. "Now where did you scamper off to little Cagalli," Airachnid wondered softly as she searched around of the area of her ship. Finally, she reached the open hatch and figured that if Cagalli were going to try and hide anywhere around here, she may have been trying to hide inside of the ship in a desperate attempt to throw her off. "If you wanted a tour Cagalli, all you had to do was ask," Airachnid called as she started to walk inside. "Did you spot the empty space? I hope you like it, because it's where you'll soon hang your head."

What Airachnid did not know was that Cagalli had indeed snuck inside of the ship, but had long since found another way out before Airachnid had moved to go inside herself. Though that did not stop her from hearing Airachnid's last comment and being seriously disgusted by it afterwards. Cagalli then gave herself a mental shake as she started to move as quietly as she could to try and find what she was hoping before, when she suddenly ended up stepping right in it.

"Energon," Cagalli whispered in relief. She then looked up and saw where the blue liquid was falling from and worked as fast as she could. After she had pulled out what she needed to start a small fire, Cagalli quickly lit a small stick with a flame and held it high, waiting for the sick 'Con to come out where she wanted her to be.

Cagalli did not have to wait long, as Airachnid had heard Cagalli's efforts in trying to light the stick and moved to the roof of her ship. As soon as she saw the 'Con, Cagalli smirked and shouted out, "Burn you overgrown bug!"

With that, Cagalli tossed the small torch into the leaking energon on Airachnid's ship and made a break for it as fast she could. She did not even bother to pay Airachnid's infuriated scream as she ran, because a few minutes after that scream had come and gone, the ship exploded, supposedly ending its pilot, and if not ensuring that Airachnid could not leave the Earth on her own.

Cagalli breathed a sigh of relief as she watched the smoldering flames burn up the ship from where she was at the top of the ditch where she had taken cover just before the ship had exploded. After dusting herself off a bit, Cagalli holstered her gun as she moved to go and find Arcee again. Before she could get more than five steps away though, Cagalli found her leg was caught in something. She looked down and saw to her horror that her leg had been webbed to the ground; leading her to look up and see that somehow Airachnid had survived the explosion. Next thing that Cagalli knew, she was the tied up by Airachnid's webs with the sick 'Con hovering over her.

Airachnid was smirking with joy as now she would have both her trophy and her revenge on Cagalli for destroying her ship, but that joy was soon tarnished as the sound of an engine grabbed her attention just in time to see Arcee racing over the hill in vehicle mode shouting, "Get away from her bitch!"

As soon as she had shouted that, Arcee had transformed and slammed her fist into Airachnid's face _hard_. Airachnid barely had time to regain her balance after suffering Arcee's unexpected attack, and after having been through so much today between fighting her old nemesis and hunting Cagalli Airachnid was too tired to really have put up much of a fight really anyways and had soon passed out.

Arcee then ran over to where Cagalli was pinned to a tree and pulled the webs off of the blonde as she asked, "Cagalli, are you okay?"

Cagalli just smirked as she looked up at Arcee in reply saying, "Aside from a bit of tree bark and webbing in my hair, yeah I'm okay. I'm just as tough as you remember?"

Arcee smiled happily at Cagalli's little joke before the sound of drilling reached their ears. The two turned and saw that Airachnid was drilling into the ground in an attempt to get away, an attempt that was completely successful since by the time the two had reached her, she was already long gone. "So much for closure," Arcee sighed.

"And now Airachnid's stuck here on Earth. Should we be concerned whether or not that's a good thing," Cagalli asked.

Arcee was not sure how to answer, so she did not and chose instead to say, "Cagalli I'm sorry you had to face my demons today. You were really brave out there."

Cagalli snorted a bit before admitting, "Actually I was terrified. For you."

Arcee smirked and then radioed the base, finally getting through, "Arcee to base. Send us a Ground Bridge. I need to get my partner away from any oversized insects."

Cagalli smirked as she raised an eyebrow at Arcee asking, "Partner?"

"Junior Partner. I can still pull rank," Arcee corrected.

"That's fine with me. Don't tell anyone this, but I've actually always wanted an older sister," Cagalli admitted.

"Don't worry, your secret's safe with me little sis," Arcee smiled as the two headed through the swirling green vortex that appeared just a moment later.

* * *

Somewhere far away from where Arcee and Cagalli had previously been, Airachnid finally emerged, seething in anger and swearing to get her revenge on both Arcee and Cagalli as soon as the opportunity arose. That opportunity came sooner than she expected as she turned to the sounds of a jet flying in only to find Slipstream transform and land before her a moment later. "Well this is a surprise," Slipstream openly smirked. "The mighty Airachnid, apparently beaten by a single Autobot and a little human girl."

"Watch it fly girl unless you want that pretty little face of yours to get an acid bath," Airachnid warned.

"ENOUGH," a deep, demanding voice suddenly hollered just as the two started to get a bolt of lightning to form between their eyes. They both turned to see Megatron had arrived on the scene as well. "Airachnid, despite what Slipstream may have you believe, it actually is a welcome sight to see again."

"Of course Lord Megatron," Airachnid replied with a slight sneer. "I only wish I were more…presentable at the moment."

"Perhaps you would be interested in knowing that I have a unit commanded by someone I'm considering for my new first lieutenant that can help you even the score. If not with the human child then most definitely with the Autobot, Arcee."

Airachnid simply smirked as she told Megatron, "I'm listening."

* * *

A few moments after they had walked through the Ground Bridge portal, Arcee and Cagalli finally arrived back at the Autobot base in Orb, with Cagalli mentally cheering how good it was to be home. As soon as the Ground Bridge was deactivated, the two were met with the sight of Kira and Bumblebee running towards them, concern evident on each of their faces. "Cagalli, are you guys okay," Kira asked.

"What're you doing here Kira? I thought you would be working at Morgenroete all day," Cagalli asked, clearly trying to avoid the question since she was not sure how to answer it just yet.

"Oh well…," Kira looked down sadly for a minute before stating, "It's personal, but forget about that, seriously what happened out there? Ratchet said that you guys went on a routine mission that should've ended hours ago."

Cagalli and Arcee just looked at each before smiling at the two boys as Cagalli replied, "Nothing much. Just a little bonding time between sisters."

"Huh/**_Huh,"_** was the shared question of both Kira and Bumblebee. Cagalli just giggled a little as she placed a hand on Kira's shoulder while she walked past him and lead the way to the rest of Kira's friends who were still there.

Arcee just chuckled a bit herself before she tapped Bumblebee's arm getting his attention for a minute and said, "I'll fill you in on everything later, but first…thanks for what you said all those years ago after…what happened to Tailgate. I guess I just needed a little more time for it to sink in."

Bumblebee gained a shocked expression when Arcee mentioned Tailgate, and he suddenly felt he had a pretty good idea what had happened to the two girls. He tried to say something to Arcee, but found himself in a greater state of shock as Arcee suddenly wrapped him in a tight hug. After the initial shock had passed, Bumblebee just shrugged it off and returned Arcee's hug before the two pulled away. As Arcee walked past the two humans though, she saw Cagalli looking at her with a mischievous smirk and had to ask, "What?"

"Just a good friend huh," Cagalli replied, clearly referring to what had just happened.

Arcee's face instantly lit up with a Cybertronian blush as she quickly replied, "It's not like that! It was just a friendly hug. That's it, a hug between friends!"

"Uh huh, sure it was big sister," Cagalli replied in a disbelieving tone.

"It was! Oh geez, only my little sister for a few minutes and already she's teasing me about this kind of thing," Arcee moaned. This led to Cagalli busting out laughing at Arcee's expense and Kira joining in a moment later, not sure why, but just feeling like that moment of humor was just contagious. Soon enough though, it had spread to everyone in the room and no one could say they were surprised at how the two new sisters were both so happy to be just that.

* * *

**_AN: Now I know this is a lot like the original content of the episode from Transformers Prime, but can you really blame me for this one? The episode was so well done that I couldn't figure out how to change all the much aside from what was changed. If you think that it seems a little OOC for Cagalli to have wanted an older sister figure, I'm going to go ahead and say right now that I did that because she and Arcee are a lot alike in many senses and I always kinda figured Cagalli was the kind of person that wished they had an older sibling type of figure to look up to. Also, Airachnid joining the Decepticons right after getting to Earth, well I mostly did that because there really wasn't much else I could do with her character on her own without having her join Megatron. Also this is the first time I've done a chapter with flashback scenes like the ones in this chapter so I hope I did okay with them. Anyways onto the preview..._**

**_A chance encounter can cause many things, a fact that is proven true in the case of Kira and Athrun as well as Dearka and Miriallia, when the four find themselves trapped in an abandoned energon mine while investigating strange readings along with a pair of Autobots and Decepticons respectively. How will the four react when secrets are revealed and truths come out, and can Bumblebee and Elita One work with Dreadwing and Knockout to pull the four out of harm's way before it's too late? Next time on Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Prime…_****Chapter 18: Unexpected Finds****_. Witness the end of the Orb Missions Arc Gundam and Autobots!_**

**_Please read and review, and I'll see you next time for the conclusion of the Orb Missions Arc._**


	18. 18: Unexpected Finds

_**Cagalli: Looks like we're finally here.**_

_**Kira: Yeah the final chapter of the Orb Missions Arc.**_

_**Optimus: It is hard to believe that it is finally coming to an end before returning to the main story.**_

_**Elita: Well all good things must come to an end.**_

_**Cagalli: Yeah especially since we still have much to tell in this story, like how later on during the battle for Orb-**_

_**AN: DAH! SPOILER! [hits a button and a safe drops down from the ceiling that almost hits Cagalli who jumped out of the way]**_

_**Cagalli: WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!**_

_**AN: Well I started getting bored with stopping you guys from giving stuff away by just saying "Hey with the spoilers" or something like that, so I just decided to go with something else instead. **_

_**Kira: You do realize you could've killed her right?!**_

_**AN: Dude relax, this is the Authors Note section of the chapter. You can't get hurt here anymore than a Looney Toon cartoon character can. I'm pretty sure I've mentioned this before**_

_**Everyone but AN: Well...that's a real comfort to know.**_

_**AN: Anyways, on with the show, and the final chapter in the Orb Missions Arc. I do not own anything from the Gundam or Transformers franchises.**_

* * *

**Chapter 18: Unexpected Finds**

Something had been going on with Kira lately, and no one really knew what it was. The young Coordinator had been working harder than ever on the support OS that he was developing for Morgenroete and was not even talking to the others all that much including Bumblebee and Optimus, so it was needless to say that everyone was more than concerned about Kira.

Everyone tried their best to ask him, but Kira just brushed them all off saying he was fine. Even Cagalli and Bumblebee could not get Kira to reveal what was going on with him lately, and Cagalli was the first one to have noticed seeing as his mood change seemed to start around the time that she and Arcee had been on the mission that led them to deal with Airachnid. Jazz had gone so far as to suggest that they ask Flay of all people to ask him what was wrong, yes they were that desperate, but Miriallia shot that idea down when she revealed that for some reason Kira and Flay could not be in the same room together long enough without one of them leaving the second the other had spotted them. In Kira's case he did so quite angrily while Flay seemed like she was just cross and trying to hold back tears as she did. Seeing that they had exhausted all options they had, no one wanted to try and approach Kira directly unless they said something that got him angry at them. No one except for one person that is.

Miriallia was probably the most concerned about Kira than anyone, because she knew one reason why Kira seemed to be upset as well as a possible second reason as well. When the others asked her to tell them though, the brown haired girl kept quiet saying that she did not know for certain on the reasons she suspected and that even if she was right it was not her place to say. Even so, whatever reasons she suspected was clearly more than enough to prompt Miriallia to try and talk to Kira about what was bugging him whenever she got the chance.

Her most recent chance had actually just come up that day. Ratchet had detected a strange reading from an abandoned Decepticon energon mine, and once he had received news of this, Optimus decided that the Autobots should investigate. He then asked for Ratchet to send Bumblebee and Elita One to the coordinates of the reading and decided to allow the two Autobots to bring along a pair of their human friends since it seemed to be a simple surveillance mission. Miriallia immediately jumped at the chance to go on a mission with Elita and then pretty much forced Kira to come along with them, seeing this as a chance for her to get to the bottom of the mystery once and for all.

That was a few hours ago, and now the two friends were waiting outside the entrance to the abandoned mine for Bumblebee and Elita to finish their scans of the caves in a very tense silence, both in civilian attire since they felt that it would be best to wear that instead of an Earth Forces uniform. Kira had elected to wear his old outfit from his time on Heliopolis while Miriallia had decided to wear grey pants, a dark pink shirt, and a white jacket for this mission. Kira could not help but feel that Miriallia's new look suited her much more than the yellow dress she normally wore on Heliopolis, and when he told her as such, Miriallia thanked him with a bright smile, glad that she was able to get him to at least talk to her about something like normal, but it was just about all that either of them had said to each other since the mission had started.

Neither one of them had said much since they had been left at the entrance, mostly because Kira seemed to be more interested in starring off into space or playing with his little robotic friend Birdie than anything else. At that point, Miriallia had decided enough was enough and immediately asked, "Kira what is really going on with you?"

"What do you mean," Kira asked as he lifted his gaze from Birdie to the brown haired girl, confusion evident on his face.

"You know exactly what I mean Kira," Miriallia chided. "You've been working like your life depends on it, you don't even seem like you want to take the time to so much as talk with either us or the Autobots, including Bumblebee who you're closest to, and I know for a fact you didn't go to meet with your parents like the rest of us did the other day. So I'll ask again, what's going on with you lately?"

"Look there's nothing going on," Kira tried to reason. "I'm just really close to finishing the work for Morgenroete and I've been doing some final calculations along with some work for the Strike."

Miriallia shot him with a look as she stated, "Kira please don't try to lie to me. I know you too well for that."

Kira realized that she was right, and then just looked down sadly, as he answered, "I actually don't want to talk about it Mir."

Miriallia then decided to take a gamble and voiced what she thought was going on with him. "Does any of this have to do with your break up with Flay?"

Kira tensed a bit and then looked at Miriallia in surprise. "Don't give me that look Kira. Did you really think none of us would've noticed that you two had ended things? Besides, I was walking to my room that night when I heard Flay crying and she told me that you two had ended things," Miriallia revealed.

Kira's expression then hardened a bit at that. "And did she tell you how it happened," he then asked.

Miriallia shook her head no before saying, "But I'm sure you can still patch things up with each other. I mean it seems like she still cares about you."

"Mir, I'm not sure she ever really cared about me in that way, and besides I'm the one who broke up with her. It wasn't exactly a unanimous decision or a pleasant conversation," Kira revealed.

Now Miriallia was surprised. For as long as she had known Kira, she knew that Kira had a crush on Flay, and to hear that he was the one that had ended things between him and the red haired girl was not what she had expected. "What happened exactly," she finally asked after the realization had sunk in.

Kira sighed as he let Birdie come to perch on his shoulder before telling Miriallia, "Well it all started while you and the others were visiting your parents. Since Flay didn't have anyone to go and see she had remained on the _Archangel_ to do whatever work on the ship that she could do. I had actually gone back to the ship to run some calculations for the support OS and she found me there. When Flay asked why I hadn't gone to see my parents with the others I told her pretty much the same thing I had just told you. Flay didn't believe me, but instead of reasoning with me like you did she just flat out accused me of being a liar, and that's when the conversation really started to go downhill…"

* * *

_"__Liar," Flay shouted as she slammed her hand on the table, shocking Kira and getting him to look up from his work to Flay's angered face._

_ "__What is it? You feel bad for me, is that it? You pity me," Flay demanded._

_ "__No I…," Kira tried to reason, but Flay cut him off._

_ "__Because no one's come to see me, you're feeling sorry for me. Is that it?!"_

_ "__No Flay, that's not it," Kira reasoned again as he stood up to face her._

_ "__Oh give me a break," Flay interrupted again. "I just wish you'd stop it. You're putting on this big sympathy act for me but I really couldn't care less."_

_ "__Come on Flay," Kira tried again as he reached out to her, but Flay just knocked his hand away as she continued._

_ "__You're the one who's actually suffering aren't you," Flay stated, her tone shifting to that of a mocking one. "You're the one people should be feeling sorry for. Poor little Kira's all alone. You feel bad because you're fighting, and when you can't protect people you feel even worse and then you start crying, either to yourself or your big tough alien freak friends."_

_ "__Hey Flay that's," Kira tried to cut in, but the red head just slammed herself against Kira's chest as she started to cry herself._

_ "__So how…how can you feel any sympathy for someone like me," Flay then demanded as she continued to cry into his chest. "How can you even feel sympathy at all when you've got your big tough alien freaks looking out for you. They had no business here to begin with but now they're just trying to act all friendly to cover up the fact they're destroying our world by getting their war mixed into ours. I'm surprised that you can even consider that voiceless loser one your friend seeing as he probably didn't really try to help the people on my dad's ship when one of his own kind tried to threaten-"_

_Anything more that Flay would have said in her teary rant was cut off when Kira shoved her away and then, to her shock, slapped her across the face. _Hard.

_ "__That's enough," Kira shouted, clearly mad. "You and I both know that Bumblebee didn't know your father was on that ship and even if he did, there wasn't anything any of us could've done to stop it even though we were trying our best! So far the Autobots have done nothing to warrant anything you've just said to be said about them, and yet for some reason you just think that they deserve to be treated like the monsters that the Decepticons are."_

_ "__Well why shouldn't they be," Flay demanded. "Autobots, Decepticons, they're all the same! They're all just a bunch of alien freaks! They're just as bad as…"_

_ "__As what? As the Coordinators," Kira interrupted. That seemed to shut Flay up as she realized that she was about to say exactly what Kira had accused of her of nearly saying. Flay did not know what else to say at that point, but Kira did as he realized that Optimus and Bumblebee were right in their feelings about Flay. "Flay just stop it. Let's put an end to it. To us. This was a mistake."_

_Flay could not believe what she just heard, and she immediately went from shocked to angry as she demanded, "What did you say? What…what does that mean?!"_

_ "__You know fragging well what that means," Kira shouted, the fact he had been spending so much time with the Autobots showing from his use of Cybertronian terms. Flay then just pushed Kira as hard as she could and then ran out, tears streaming down her face._

_Kira just stared at the door for a minute with multiple emotions going through him. Anger, guilt, hurt, he was not sure which was strongest at the moment, but right then he did not really care. As Birdie flew up to perch on his shoulder, the only thought going through Kira's mind right then was, _Bumblebee and Optimus were right. Flay never was what she had seemed to be, and maybe I should've ended things between us a long time ago.

* * *

"…and a moment later Ratchet called to tell me about the mission that Cagalli and Arcee had gone on, and how he had lost contact with them a few hours earlier. I immediately asked to come in so I could help try and figure out what the problem was, but it was also so I could get out of there for a bit," Kira finally finished.

Miriallia would like to say that she was shocked, but then she would have to admit that she was lying. It was no secret to any of them that Flay hated Coordinators so much that one would assume she was a member of Blue Cosmos, especially since she stated that she thought the stance the terrorist group took was not wrong, so it was not that surprising that the red head was not all too fond of the Autobots either, to put it mildly. To be honest, Miriallia was actually surprised that Kira had ended things himself on his own terms, and that Kira actually lost his temper enough to slap Flay, but then again if Flay had said something about one of Miriallia's friends that was anything like what the red haired girl had said about the Autobots, Miriallia would have wanted to slap her too.

"Well I guess that explains a few things," Miriallia softly commented. Kira let out a small sigh, thinking that was the end of it, but he was proven wrong when Miriallia continued by asking, "But there's one thing it doesn't explain. Why didn't you come with us to see your parents?"

Kira looked down again, having hoped that Miriallia would not ask him about that, but he had to answer since she had. To be honest, Kira was not all that sure why he did not go to see his parents, but he did know a part of the reason. He voiced that reason by saying, "If I did meet them, all they would see is a soldier."

"That's ridiculous Kira! You may be a soldier but you're still the same Kira, and I'm sure your parents wanted a chance to see you," Miriallia argued.

"Miriallia, day in and day out I fight battles in mobile suits, and then help out with their development and maintenance. Why? Because I can," Kira continued, like he had not been interrupted. "And as soon as we leave Orb, I'll be going into battle against Z.A.F.T. again. I'm afraid that if I met my parents now, I'd end up asking them why."

"Why what," Miriallia asked, suddenly feeling both sad for the situation Kira seemed to think he found himself in, even though it was technically true, and also worried what the question Kira would want to ask his parents would be.

Kira then paused for a moment before finally saying, "Why the hell did they make me a Coordinator?"

Miriallia let out a soft gasp of shock at this, because as far as she knew, even if she did not know it the whole time she knew Kira, she never once knew Kira to wonder anything like that about himself. To the best of her knowledge, even despite what had recently happened to them all, Kira was more than proud of who he was, but clearly that judgment was wrong. Before Miriallia could say anything, the sounds of large metal feet reached their ears as Bumblebee and Elita emerged from the cave. "The scans aren't picking up the readings that Ratchet detected back at the base, but then again we couldn't go much further in due to the safety limit we had set for ourselves," Elita reported.

Bumblebee buzzed something to Elita about that, to which the dark pink Bot replied, "I know it was so that we wouldn't be too far from the kids, but it's not like that was a bad idea."

"If you're so concerned about us, then maybe we should go in with you so you can get a more conclusive scan," Miriallia called out, getting their attention.

"No way, the caves are…really unstable so it would be a…very, very bad idea for you to come with us," Elita tried to reason. Her reasoning was shot down when Bumblebee started to beep something in a rather indignant tone which led Kira to shoot a small glare at a now sheepish Elita.

"What did Bumblebee say Kira," Miriallia asked.

"He said that Elita was now just trying too hard to come up with a valid excuse not to let us come with them," Kira translated. Now Miriallia was shooting Elita a glare that just said "Really?"

Elita raised her hands in surrender as she stated, "Alright, alright. You guys win, all four of us will go in to get a better scan, but you two stay close to us at all times."

Kira and Miriallia nodded in consent at that and then followed the two into the caves. What none of them knew, was that another four pairs of eyes were watching them as they went in.

* * *

"Well isn't that interesting," Dearka commented as he watched the two Autobots enter with their human companions along with Athrun, Dreadwing, and Knockout. "So what do you suppose they're doing snooping around one of your old abandoned energon mines? And just who are those two kids with them," Dearka asked, his first question directed to Knockout and Dreadwing, and his second just to everyone else in general.

"It's hard to say who those two are," Athrun replied, having not gotten all that good a look at the two humans with the Autobots himself. "But we should probably assume that they're with the Legged Ship seeing as any other explanation wouldn't make much sense."

Dearka nodded in consent at that before saying, "Still doesn't answer the question of what they're doing here. I mean this mine was shut down so why are they here? You think they have something to do with the energy signature we detected?"

"Well there's really only one way to find out," Knockout stated as he moved to sit down on a nearby rock. "So you three have fun while I just sit here and enjoy the sun as I keep watch for anyone else who comes around snooping."

Dreadwing then immediately hauled the red medical 'Con to his feet. "You will be coming into the mines to investigate with us, seeing as you were the one who detected the energy signature and your scanning equipment is better for furthering that investigation."

"Oh come on Dreadwing, do you have any idea what all that rock and dirt will do to my finish," Knockout moaned.

"Yeah but that's not much of an excuse for you not to go in Knockout. I mean what's the point of being a soldier in any army if you're not willing to get even a little dirty," Dearka reasoned. Immediately after, Knockout was sputtering reasons why he did not sign up for this kind of thing and doing whatever he could to free himself from Dreadwing's grasp, but all his efforts and reasons only succeed in getting Athrun and Dearka to both laugh at the poor vain 'Con's expense as they all made their way into the caves after the Autobots.

* * *

Kira and the others had gone deeper and deeper into the caves of the abandoned energon mine, and the whole time, they could not find a thing down there, nor were they aware that they were being followed. Just when they were ready to call it quits and head home though, the scanner in Bumblebee's hand started to go off and show signs of the same readings that they had detected back at the Autobot base. They then followed the signal further down into the cave until finally they found what the scanners had detected.

The signal was coming from a set of five, large metal pods that Elita and Bumblebee instantly recognized as Cybertronian. There were not any significant markings on any of the pods as far as any of them could tell, but there was something that the two Autobots felt that was strange about these five pods. Kira and Miriallia could not help but wonder what the big deal with these strange pods were, and this led Miriallia to finally ask, "Just what are these pods for anyways?"

"From the looks of things, they seem to be stasis pods, normally used for severe medical conditions, or for preserving life of passengers that had to abandon ship while it was traveling the stars. Megatron sometimes would use these as a way of punishing his disobedient, or insubordinate soldiers as a kind of prison sentence for whatever number of cycles that he deemed worthy," Elita explained.

"So are these guys Autobots or Decepticons then," Kira asked.

Neither Autobot answered, as Bumblebee moved up for a closer look, wiping some of the fog off the glass to get a better look inside. The moment he did see though, he let a trill of shock and backed away. "What is it? What's gotten into Bumblebee Kira," Miriallia asked, now worried for the scout.

"I'm not sure," Kira admitted. "I heard him say something about combatants or something like that."

"Not combatants, Combaticons," Elita corrected in an ominous tone. "The most brutal of all Decepticon fighting units, and one of their fiercest combiners."

"Combiners," Miriallia asked, not knowing what Elita meant by that since she had never heard the term before.

"Combiners are transformers who can link up with others to form larger and more powerful warriors that take the individual strengths of the separate transformers and combine it all together as one powerful force," Elita explained.

"And these Combaticons are one of those teams for the Decepticons," Kira asked. Bumblebee nodded his head as he gave an affirmative beep. "So then, what are they doing down here in these stasis pods if they're so tough?"

"The Combaticons have a bit of a history with being incredibly insubordinate, and have been confined to the Decepticons' brig on more than one occasion. The only reason they were never imprisoned indefinitely was because unlike most Decepticons, they maintain a loose military discipline and function really well together in battle, almost to the point of possessing an almost friendly working relationship."

"So should we set them free and try to convince them to join the Autobots?"

"Too risky. They'd sooner scrap us all from within than really join us, but it's also too risky to leave them here. We should get them back to base before anyone else finds them." Elita then moved to grab one of the pods, but was stopped when Bumblebee spoke up, trilling something out to Elita.

"What? Are you saying there's others down here besides them," Elita gasped. Before Bumblebee could elaborate, the whole cave began to quake, throwing everyone off their feet, and bringing all Cybertronians, Autobot and Decepticon, and humans, Z.A.F.T. and Earth Forces, face to face with each other.

Before anyone could react to the sudden revelation of being revealed to each other, something burst up from the ground and made its way to the Combaticons' stasis pods. They all whipped their attention around to see a horde of Insecticons were moving to take the pods with them, with Sharpshot guiding the horde. When the oversized bug saw that he and his swarm were not alone, he let out a bug like equivalent of a snarl and started firing at the cave walls and ceiling as he hissed, "Starscream say no witnessezzz."

The four Cybertronians tried to move as quickly as possible to save their human companions, but somehow, they ended up getting separated from the four humans in the confusion, and all ended up being trapped in separate tunnels from each other. Seeing that his efforts to stop his enemies from getting word to their allies seemed to be successful, Sharpshot spoke to his swarm in their unique Insecticon tongue to move quickly, and in no time at all, the five Combaticon stasis pods were brought out of the cave by the massive, robotic bugs. His mission now accomplished, Sharpshot stated with a prideful buzz, "Starscream and Azrael will be most pleazzzed."

* * *

Kira groaned a bit as he slowly stood up and looked around to take in his surroundings. The entire section of the cave he was in had been sealed off by the rocks that had fallen after Sharpshot had caused that cave-in, and it did not look like he was going to be able to move those rocks easily anytime soon or even get out of here without doing so. He then turned around at the sound of a groan and saw Miriallia on the ground and struggling to sit up. "Miriallia," Kira cried out as best he could, realizing his voice sounded a bit horse as he did. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah I think so," Miriallia groaned again as she managed to get into a sitting position. She then reached up to her head and winced a bit.

"Are you sure? It seems like you might have hit your head," Kira double checked. As he tried to examine the girl's head though, it did not seem like her head had received any injury.

"Don't worry Kira it's not that," Miriallia clarified. She then pulled something out of her ear which was revealed to be a damaged comm. link device that the Autobots had given her. "My comm. link is just broken."

Kira nodded in consent at that and then tried to stand up, using the cave wall as a support. He then tapped his own comm. link to test it out, and upon seeing that it was working began to call out, "Kira to Bumblebee, are you guys okay?" Instead of the scout's usual beeps and whirrs though, all he received was static. "Elita, this is Kira. Do you read me," Kira tried again, only to get the same results. He then sighed and stated, "Looks like there's something in the cave walls that's blocking the signal or something."

Miriallia was getting really worried for both them and their Autobot friends now, and was about to ask if they were going to be okay when the sound of falling rocks reached their ears. Kira quickly moved to try and shield Miriallia with his own body, fearing that more rocks were about to start coming down, but then they heard a small set of the rocks in the wall get pushed lose followed by a voice saying, "You see what'd I tell you? We're home free now and we can…oh no."

Kira and Miriallia then spun around to the source of the voice and saw a young blonde man about their age in a green shirt, dark pants, and a white jacket had emerged from a hole in the rock wall. He was then immediately followed by another young man with blue hair in a yellow shirt, light grey pants, and a red coat that Kira instantly recognized as Athrun. As soon as he and Miriallia saw them both, only one word came to both their minds as they started hoping the two didn't recognize them. "Scrap."

Unfortunately for Kira, the blonde recognized him and Miriallia as well as he whipped out his gun shouting out, "You!"

Miriallia recognized the two men on the opposite side of the cave to herself and Kira and moved to pull out her own energon hand gun, which Elita had insisted that she bring with her just in case, when to her shock both Kira and the blue haired man moved in front of her and the blonde with their arms out as they shouted to both of them to wait. "Give me one good reason, and make it fast," the blonde growled to his companion.

"For starters there's no telling how stable this part of the cave is and this is also an energon mine. Even if it is abandoned there's a chance that if we start shooting at each other in here then we might bring the ceiling down on us again, and this time we won't be so lucky to survive," the blue haired youth told his friend.

"Fine then at least let me take them prisoner," the blonde demanded.

"No you're not going to do that either," the bluenette told him.

"And why not?!"

Kira knew that Miriallia had heard the two talking since she seemed to relax her guard a bit, but not completely, and so he lowered his arms and turned around to meet the blue haired boy's gaze. They simply stood there starring at each other for a moment before Kira finally said, "Hi Athrun."

Athrun could not help the small smile that came to his face as he returned the greeting saying, "Kira. Despite the circumstances, and how we left things the last time we met, it is good to see you again."

Kira nodded in agreement at that, and both the blonde and Miriallia were thrown into confusion, until Athrun turned back to his blonde haired friend and said, "Dearka, this is Kira. Kira Yamato, the pilot of the X105-Strike, and an old friend of mine from before I came to the PLANTs."

Dearka gasped in shock at that, and then threw a glare at Athrun as he hissed, "You knew. All this time you knew who the Strike's pilot was! Why didn't you say anything about knowing that the Natural scum piloting that thing, who also gave Yzak that scar of his, was your old damn buddy?!"

"Because I knew you would react like this for one thing," Athrun half-shouted, cutting Dearka's rant short. "And because he's not a Natural! He's one of us, he's a Coordinator same as you and me!"

Now Dearka was shocked beyond belief at this revelation. So shocked that all he could stutter out was, "But the…the reports…they said that it…"

"The official report was changed by my father in order to avoid an unnecessary uproar," Athrun revealed. "And now you know why I had first tried so hard to try and capture the Strike and its pilot instead of shooting it down. You should know though, I had promised Commander Le Creuset that if I couldn't convince Kira to come back with us, I would shoot him myself."

Now Dearka was really thrown for a loop. To hear Athrun say that not only was the Strike pilot they had fought so hard against actually a Coordinator like them, but also that he was an old friend of Athrun's from a long time ago and that he had made a promise to the commander like that was enough to render anyone speechless, and he was sure that the same could be said even for Yzak if he were here right now. He was so shocked that it was not until Kira was right in front of him with his hand out that he registered that Kira had moved towards him. He just starred at the hand for a moment until Kira said, "Like Athrun said, my name's Kira, and your name's Dearka right?"

Dearka just starred at Kira for another moment before finally accepting the handshake and replying, "Yeah, it's Dearka. Dearka Elsman."

Kira smiled and stated, "It's nice to meet you."

Dearka could not help but return the smile as he told Kira the feeling was mutual. At the sound of a cough though, the three boys turned to see that Miriallia was glaring at all of them and Dearka had to smile as he asked Kira, "So you gonna introduce us to little Miss Cutie over there?"

"Excuse me," Miriallia shouted, clearly annoyed with being addressed by that name.

"Uh sorry ma'am," Dearka quickly apologized.

"My name's Miriallia. Don't call me ma'am either," Miriallia then stated softly.

Dearka was shocked at this and then asked, "So…I can call you by your name?"

Miriallia just scoffed and turned around with her arms crossed as she snapped, "No!"

Athrun looked at Kira in confusion, only to receive a sheepish shrug in return before Kira called out to get Miriallia's attention saying, "Mir, this is Athrun. Athrun Zala, pilot of the Aegis, and an old friend of mine from when my family and I lived on the moon, before we came to Orb."

Now it was Miriallia who was shocked at a revelation. She knew that one of the pilots of the stolen G-Weapons, or Gundams as Kira liked to call them, was an old friend of Kira's, having heard it from Kuzzey when he overheard Kira talking to Lacus back when she was aboard the _Archangel_, but she did not expect to actually meet that person, let alone to do so in a place like this. She then saw Athrun reach out in a much more shy manner than Kira had to shake hands with her as he said, "It's uh…nice to meet you Miriallia."

Miriallia hesitated for a moment before finally returning the handshake with a small smile and stated, "Likewise."

With all of that out of the way, the four soon started discussing their current situation and working on a way for all of them to get out of the cave they were trapped in.

* * *

While Kira and Athrun were having their reunion and introducing one and other to Miriallia and Dearka, Bumblebee and Elita were also having a little reunion, but it was not a friendly one. The two Autobots had run into Dreadwing and Knockout as soon as they had come around, and Bumblebee had quickly engaged the two in a battle of fisticuffs, one that Dreadwing was more than happy to answer. The two had gone at it rather harshly and would have continued had Elita and Knockout not grabbed hold of their respective comrades to hold them back.

"Dreadwing think for a minute," Knockout shouted. "If you keep this up you might accidentally bring the rest of the mine down on us. Unless you're trying to get my finish completely ruined beyond repair."

"Despite the selfish needs of Mister Vain over there," Elita stated, to which Knockout simply grunted. "He is right Bumblebee. Besides, we've got more important things to worry about than a couple of 'Cons. We need to find Kira and Miriallia." She then turned to the two previously mentioned 'Cons. "I assume that goes for you and your own human allies as well?"

Knockout just huffed again as he stated, "I really couldn't care less what happens to those two. If you ask me it's already too late to do anything for them."

Dreadwing grabbed Knockout again as he snarled, "We don't know that yet Knockout."

"What're you talking about?! We both saw them get buried back there!"

"I saw them get separated from us in the cave-in, so until we get more conclusive proof that they are dead, we look for them. Unless you want to report to Megatron that Chairman Zala's son was left behind in a cave without us checking to be certain whether or not he was dead."

Knockout cringed at that and then shook his head saying, "No thank you."

The four then agreed to a temporary truce and moved to look for their human friends after discovering that they were having trouble contacting Kira and the others with their comm. links. The whole time though, Bumblebee kept an optic trained on his active scanner without the two Decepticons knowing that it was pointing to something other than the recently stolen Combaticon pods.

* * *

None of the four humans knew how much time had passed since they were trapped in the cavern they were in, but they were quickly running out of ideas on how to escape as all their previous ideas were either unsuccessful or proved to be ideas that they just simply could not carry out. At this point, they were all just sitting quietly thinking of ideas, and the silence was beginning to wear on all of them, even as Athrun and Kira both tried their respective comm. links with still no success.

Deciding to finally try and break the silence himself, Kira turned to Dearka and asked, "So Dearka, do you…pilot one of the stolen Gundams?"

"The what," Dearka asked, his look of confusion matched by Athrun.

"He's referring to the mobile suits you guys stole when you attacked Heliopolis," Miriallia explained, getting the attention of all three boys. "Kira has been calling his own mobile suit that ever since he first started piloting it. I overheard one of the engineers on the _Archangel_ say that he got the idea from the main OS's startup screen."

Athrun looked at Kira for clarification, to which Kira nodded in confirmation of what Miriallia had said and then stated, "The point where the OS's full name appears. You know, General Unilateral Nero-link Dispersive Autonomic Maneuver system. Take the first letter of each of word and you get Gundam."

"Huh, you know I never noticed that until now," Dearka chuckled.

"I did notice in passing, but didn't really think much of it so I just ignored it normally," Athrun said with a chuckle of his own. "You know we should probably tell Nicol and Yzak about how we've all been piloting Gundams when we get back."

"Yeah no kidding." Dearka then gained a serious face as he stated, "Yeah I'm the pilot of one of those Gundams. To be more specific, I normally pilot the Buster."

Kira smiled at that as he stated, "Well you're actually a pretty good shot when you're in that thing. Trust me I should know since I've had some really close calls avoiding those shots."

"Thanks, I think," Dearka replied, not entirely sure it whether or not that was a compliment, but still laughing a bit along with Kira, Athrun, and even Miriallia eventually.

They were all brought out of there laughter when a robotic voice called out, "Birdie. Birdie?" They all turned to see that the call had come from Birdie who had been flying around the cave without anyone noticing and just landed on Kira's shoulder.

"Well how about that," Athrun smiled. "You really do still have it."

Kira looked at Athrun in confusion, as Athrun clarified, "Lacus told me you still had Birdie and I couldn't really believe it at first. Glad to see that you do still have it and you seem to be taking good care of him."

Kira smiled and would have told Athrun something at that point, when Miriallia suddenly gasped in shock gaining everyone's attention. "That's it! Maybe we can use Birdie to help get us out of here," Miriallia exclaimed.

The boys were all still confused until Kira caught on to what his friend was saying. "She's right," Kira exclaimed in excitement. "Birdie can fly up through some of those openings and then lead Bumblebee and Elita One to us."

"Right, and Birdie already has a memory chip that records everything it sees and hears so that it can learn and adapt to his surroundings and familiarize itself with safe and friendly places and people," Athrun suddenly remembered as he walked over to Kira and reached out for the robotic bird to jump into his hand for a moment, which Birdie happily did. "All we have to do is add a little video projection system in so that we can send them a message that they will understand."

"And then we're out of here," Dearka finished. Athrun quickly went to work making the necessary modifications to Birdie and as soon as he was done, he handed the little robotic bird back to Kira, who then let his little friend record a message to Bumblebee and Elita.

Once he had finished, he held his hand up high and said, "Okay Birdie, go and find Bumblebee and Elita."

With that said, Birdie immediately took off and flew out of an opening in the rock wall that had imprisoned the four, and began his mission to find the two Autobots. After watching Birdie fly out of the cavern, the four humans all sat down and decided to wait, and once again began making whatever small talk that they could in order to pass the time until their rescuers came. The whole time Kira smiled at Athrun as he stated to his old friend a short while later, "You really haven't changed a bit Athrun."

Athrun smiled at Kira for that comment, and the four immediately fell into a comfortable conversation as they waited.

* * *

The four Cybertronians were really beginning to feel their patience wearing thin in their search for the four humans, and it did not help matters that they had to do so with their archenemies' help, for lack of a better word. Every few minutes or so came with a smart remark or insult from one or the other and resulted in the one it was directed at feeling the need to rise up a bit and respond in kind to said remark. This was mostly between Knockout and Bumblebee, as Elita and Dreadwing were able to contain themselves enough to not let themselves get too far into doing so before becoming focused on their task once again.

Eventually though, the little game of banter was starting to come to a head. "While I do admire your courage and admit that I find you a worthy rival in the depart of vehicular speed, I would never allow myself to let my enemies rob me of my voice box like you Scout. I can hardly imagine what the universe would be like without the sound of my majestic voice."

**_"_****_I'm sure they would be as grateful for the silence that loss would give as it would be for the end of that fragger Starscream. Besides, I may be unable to use my own voice, but at least I don't worry over my appearance as much as a school girl,"_** Bumblebee retorted.

"Why you little gold bug!"

**_"_****_Half-baked medic!"_**

"Prime fan-boy!"

**_"_****_Kiss up!"_**

"Both of you shut it," Elita shouted, getting everyone's attention as she indicated a wall. "You all might want to take a look at this."

The three looked to the section of the wall that Elita had pointed out to them, and saw that instead of a rock wall, there was actually an ancient Cybertronian data slab. Upon closer examination, Knockout gasped in shock, "By the AllSpark! This is some of the formula for…"

"Synthetic energon," Elita finished, having understood the formula just as well herself.

**_"_****_You mean with this we wouldn't need to rely on normal energon and be able to keep going for Primus knows how long,"_** Bumblebee asked.

"Theoretically yes, but there is one small problem," Elita stated. "This is only a piece of the formula, and there's no telling what the rest of it is without months, if not years worth of research, assuming the rest of it isn't buried down here with it."

Knockout was about to say something else on the matter when all their attention was diverted by a strange sound. The all trained their audio receptors for it and then heard something calling out, "Birdie!"

Bumblebee instantly recognized that sound and turned to see the familiar yellow and green robotic bird flying towards them, and then land on his arm as he raised it up for Birdie.

"What is that? A robotic replication of one of this planet's life forms," Knockout asked.

**_"_****_And it's also a sign that Kira and the others are all right,"_** Bumblebee exclaimed. Birdie started jumping around on Bumblebee's arm as he seemed to indicate he wanted the Autobots and Decepticons to know something.

"What is it? What's he trying to tell us," Elita asked. Birdie then jumped and spun around as one of his eyes started to glow and then it projected a holographic image of Kira, Miriallia, Athrun, and Dearka standing together in a cavern.

_"__Bumblebee, Elita, it's Kira! This is our location, and we're here with Athrun and Dearka, a couple of Z.A.F.T. pilots. Don't worry we're all fine, but we could only get in touch with you by sending Birdie with this message. He can lead you guys back here just hurry,"_ the message said before ending.

"Well that explains why they haven't tried to call us," Elita stated.

Dreadwing nodded in agreement before turning to Birdie and saying, "Alright uh…Birdie. Lead the way to Athrun, Kira, and the others."

"Birdie," Birdie replied as he leapt off Bumblebee's arm and flew back in the direction he came, the two pairs of Autobots and Decepticons quickly following after him, with Bumblebee and Knockout in vehicle mode, and Elita and Dreadwing just running through the caves on foot. Neither one of the two Decepticons had noticed Elita had stayed back for a moment to plant a small explosive on the information slab.

* * *

Another long silence had fallen over the cave, as any conversation between the two Z.A.F.T. pilots and Kira and Miriallia had come to a halt. They all had a pretty good laugh at Dearka's expense when he got Miriallia mad enough to actually threaten him which caused the blonde to back off in fear, but things had quickly fallen into a comfortable silence afterwards. Miriallia then decided that now was as good a time as any to tell Kira something important that she wanted to say earlier.

"You know Kira," Miriallia stated softly. "If you did get a chance to see your parents, I'm sure they wouldn't care if you were a soldier or if you were just a crewman, so long as you were still alive. I know that the fact you feel like you'd want to ask them why they made you Coordinator is a scary thought, but I don't think it really matters all that much, because I think that, maybe they thought it was for your own good. I know a lot of good parents want their kids to do well in life and maybe one day surpass them, so maybe that's why they made you Coordinator, so you could do that. I'm not saying that is the reason, but you shouldn't let that keep you from seeing your parents again if you have the chance."

Kira looked at Miriallia in shock for a moment, before his expression became thoughtful, and before he or the brown haired girl could say anything Athrun spoke up saying, "Let me guess, Kira's getting himself absorbed in a lot of work so that he will be able to have a reasonable excuse to avoid something he doesn't want to face right?"

Kira and Miriallia spun to look in Athrun's direction, and saw Athrun had a knowing smile on his face as he finished saying, "I guess I'm not the only one who hasn't changed a bit huh Kira? Looks like you're still the same as ever."

Kira smiled in thanks for that, and felt that he and his friend may actually be able to resolve things soon enough, just like Optimus had said they might be able to. The moment between the two was interrupted when Dearka stated to Miriallia, "Well pretty, smart, and insightful. You're really something else you know that?"

Miriallia was about to tell Dearka off again when Kira cut in stating with a smile, "Yeah and her _boyfriend_ knows that really well too."

The resulting reactions were what he had expected, as Dearka gained a shocked expression and Miriallia blushed bright red. The two were instantly stuttering, Dearka in an attempt to apologize for his obvious flirting, and Miriallia as she tried to insist that she did not have a boyfriend, but she knew that Kira was right. Kira knew that she knew he was right and continued saying, "You know I heard he's actually volunteered to pilot one of the Sky Graspers, so I guess that just makes him seem all the more tough huh Mir?"

Miriallia was about to say that it just made her want to scold him for doing something that he knew would get her worried, but stopped herself for two reasons. One being that she knew that she would be playing right into Kira's hands if she did, and the other being because there was a sound of rocks being moved. A moment later, a large amount of the rock wall was moved away, and revealed the kind, concerned face of Bumblebee, who buzzed out a question to the four.

"We're all okay Bumblebee," Kira replied. "And thanks for coming."

Athrun and Dearka both raised an eyebrow at Kira wondering how he was able to understand what Bumblebee had said as Bumblebee buzzed what everyone who could not understand him assumed to be a your welcome. A short while later, Kira and the others were helped out of the cavern by both the Autobots and the Decepticons and now the two sides were squaring off with each other, trying to figure out what they should do.

Finally, Athrun coughed to get everyone's attention. "We came here to investigate a strange reading and found what had caused it. We never encountered either the Autobots or the crew of the Legged Ship."

Kira nodded in acceptance of that, an action that was copied by everyone else as well, and the two sides turned to part ways. Just a moment later as Kira, Miriallia, and the Autobots were parting ways, Dearka called out to Miriallia and said, "It was…uh…it really was nice to meet you."

Miriallia stared at Dearka for a moment before smiling and saying, "Likewise…Dearka."

With that, the Autobots and the _Archangel_ crewmembers parted from the Z.A.F.T. pilots and Decepticons, never once showing that they were actually heading to another part of the cave, which was where Bumblebee had picked up the strange readings he had detected earlier when they first encountered the Combaticons.

* * *

After parting ways with the Autobots, the Decepticons returned with Athrun and Dearka to retrieve the portion of the synthetic energon formula, only to discover it had been destroyed. "The Autobots must have planted an explosive on the slab when we weren't paying attention," Knockout snarled.

"A well played move Elita One and Bumblebee," Dreadwing muttered softly.

Then Dearka spoke up saying, "Well it's their loss, because they didn't see that." The other three turned to see that Dearka had found the other half of the synthetic energon formula, causing Knockout to smirk in excitement since they were now even with the Autobots in the sense that they each now had one piece of the formula that may lead to a major change in the war for Cybertron.

"What about the fact that an Insecticon made off with the Combaticon pods," Athrun then asked.

"It can only mean that a certain fly has started to build up on his plans for usurping power from Lord Megatron," Dreadwing stated. "And that means we should be ready for anything that may come from both the Autobots and Starscream."

Athrun nodded in agreement at that, and moved to help Dearka and Knockout move the slab so they could get it back to the _Nemesis_.

* * *

Later that same day, Azrael watched as Starscream opened up one of the pods that the Insecticons had brought back. As soon as he did, a large Decepticon with broad shoulders, large hands, arms, and legs, and a face that had a visor instead of eyes stepped out with a groan. As soon as this 'Con laid eyes on Starscream, he snarled, "You!"

"Yes it is good to see you as well after so long Onslaught," Starscream began, but was then cut off as Onslaught slammed the Seeker into a wall.

"Yeah, because last time I saw you, you were about to imprison me and my team just because we were able to salvage an operation that you screwed up from the get-go in one of your bids to steal power from Megatron!"

"Well, I won't deny that I may have let my anger get the better of me at the time, but look what standing with Megatron got you. Thrown into stasis pods that were then flung across the galaxy to this planet here, only for me to free you from said prison," Starscream reasoned.

That seemed to calm Onslaught down a bit as he let Starscream go and asked, "Your point?"

Starscream brushed himself off a bit as he replied, "I'm more than willing to release both you and the rest of your team from stasis if you agree to follow me and my new business partner in a special operation."

The two then continued their conversation in hushed voices that prevented Azrael from hearing what they were saying, but soon enough, it seemed Starscream was able to get Onslaught to agree to the Seeker's proposal. Shortly after, the remaining four Combaticons were freed from stasis, which allowed Azrael to note that while two seemed to be ground based, one of which being clearly meant for heavy artillery, the other two seemed to be aerial based.

"Director Azrael," Starscream then announced, getting the blonde man's attention and indicating each Combaticon. "Allow me to introduce the Decepticons' fiercest strike force and combiner team, the Combaticons. Blast Off, Vortex, Swindle, Brawl, and their leader Onslaught."

"Hey Azrael," Swindle then called out before Azrael could say anything. "Starscream may believe you can be of some kind of benefit to us, but as a business man myself, I want to know just what kind of benefits those would be."

Azrael then smirked as he snapped his fingers, and a set of lights snapped on drawing the Combaticons' attention to what said lights were illuminating. What they saw caused them all to gasp in shock and then smirk in excitement at what this could mean for both them and Starscream's plans.

"I trust this is enough to convince you," Azrael asked with a smile.

"Oh yeah," Swindle replied with an excited, twisted grin.

* * *

Around that same time, Elita and the others had returned to Autobot base with four stasis pods in tow, which Ratchet confirmed to be the type used for emergency escapes and as Autobots. Later on he confirmed that they were the escape pods for an Autobot ship that was carrying one of the Autobots' toughest combiner teams, but as to why only four were there, no one knew. What really raised their spirits though, was that Birdie had been able to record an image of the synthetic energon formula piece that Bumblebee and Elita had found and Ratchet immediately set to work on figuring out the rest of the formula as he memorized the piece they had.

Optimus approached the team that had brought back such great finds and stated, "I am truly grateful that you were able to retrieve both this piece of the synthetic energon formula and our four long lost friends while also keeping them out of Decepticon hands. I am certain that Silverbolt and his team will forever be grateful to you as well."

"Silverbolt? Is that the name of one of those Autobots," Kira asked, indicating the pods as he did.

"Yes indeed young Kira," Optimus replied with a smile. "And he is by far one of the bravest Autobots I have ever known, for simply having to have conquered his fear of heights in order to ensure that he and his team were able to be the most effective in battle."

Kira smiled in excitement at the thought of being able to meet Silverbolt and his team one day, and hoped that somehow they could find the missing member of Silverbolt's team as soon as possible both for the sake of said Autobot team, and for the sake of ensuring they were ready for whatever the Insecticons, or whoever they were working for, were planning to do with the Combaticons. He then turned to Miriallia and the others and said, "Sorry guys. I'd love to stick around, but right now I've got somewhere I need to be, and some people that I need to see."

Miriallia and the others, save for Bumblebee who transformed and drove Kira out of the base a moment later, all looked after Kira in confusion, before Miriallia realized what Kira meant by that and smiled happily after him.

A few hours later, Kira arrived at Lord Uzumi's office, having been escorted there by Cagalli after Bumblebee dropped him off at the door, and knocked on the door. When he was told it was okay to come in, Kira did so and as soon as he saw two very familiar people in the room with Lord Uzumi, he smiled happily and said, "Hi Mom. Hi Dad."

As soon as Kira had said that, his parents immediately ran over to him, and gave him a huge hug, his mother crying happily at finally seeing her boy again as she did, which Kira happily returned. While that was going on, Cagalli and her father immediately left the room to give the Yamato family a moment alone to enjoy their reunion. Once both parents and son had finally released one and other from their hug, Kira's parents immediately began asking him about how he had been and what had happened to him, and Kira was more than happy to tell them everything, including about how he had met with Athrun again after so long, and how he met his newest best friend, Bumblebee.

* * *

It was around sunset when Kira had finally presented the finished support OS to Miss Erica and they had tested it out with great results, and Kira was more than ready to finish up some maintenance on the Strike before returning to the _Archangel_ to get some much needed sleep. After the day he had, Kira felt that he really deserved to just collapse on his bed before the _Archangel_ headed out the following morning, but Birdie seemed to have other plans as he flew off to who knew where. Kira immediately chased after his little robotic friend not knowing where he had gone too.

What he did not know was that Birdie had sensed an old friend just outside the factory and had flown off to see him again. As soon as Birdie was in sight, Athrun raised his hand and Birdie immediately landed on said hand, drawing the attention of the entire Zala team and Knockout and Breakdown, though the only other ones who recognized the little robot bird were Dearka and Knockout, and they both knew what that meant.

Athrun then looked up see Kira running out of one of the buildings on the other side of the fence that surrounded the Morgenroete facility calling out for Birdie, and immediately started walking over to meet Kira at the fence. When Kira saw this, he immediately did the same, a fact that did not go unnoticed by Cagalli as she was passing by and saw the exchange that was about to happen.

After a moment of simply starring at one and other, Athrun extended the arm with Birdie perched on it towards the fence, holding Birdie up to Kira and asking, "Is this yours?"

Kira looked down at Birdie for a moment, seeing that Athrun was trying to hide the fact he knew him with a small act and then played along with said act saying, "Yes. Thank you."

Birdie then jumped from Athrun's hand and into Kira's waiting hands, and Kira then looked up from the little robot to his friend with a gaze that was similar to the look he gave Athrun when he first gave Birdie to Kira. Athrun then turned to move back to his friends and tell them that it was time to leave when Kira remembered what he wanted to tell Athrun earlier in the cavern and called out, "An old friend gave it to me."

That immediately grabbed Athrun's attention and he turned back to Kira as he continued on by saying, "It's a very valuable gift from a valuable friend."

Athrun gave Kira a small nod in understanding as he replied with a simple I see and then continued to walk towards Knockout and Breakdown, who already had nearly the entire Zala team aboard, sparing just one last glance towards Cagalli as she called out to Kira. The entire time neither of them noticed that Jaylen was watching the exchange the entire time and had let out a small smile by the end as she figured out exactly what had just happened and who Kira really was. The only other person to know this was Dearka, who let out a hidden smile of his own at the exchange between the two friends and at the fact he felt like he just saw a piece of Athrun and Kira's history being played out before him.

As soon as Athrun climbed into Knockout with Nicol and Jaylen, he could not help but feel sad at what would happen as soon as the Legged Ship revealed itself from the Orb waters tomorrow, and feel fearful of what would happen in the battle that was sure to come.

* * *

**_AN: Well this has been just great, getting to write the chapters here in the Orb Missions Arc. I almost wish I could've done more, but then I would've just been doing a bunch of filler stories that wouldn't have had much impact on the plot, and as you could probably tell each chapter in this arc had a major overall plot point to it. If you can't figure out what those plot points are then you need to go back and read the entire Orb Missions Arc again._**

**_Kira: Hey lyokoMARVELanime? I was actually looking over some of the earlier drafts for this chapter, and it looks like there was a pretty interesting scene between me and my parents that even included the Autobots. Why wasn't that put in here for the final draft of the chapter?_**

**_AN: Well I honestly wanted to put that scene in, but then I felt that if I did that the chapter would've been too long, and I also liked how I had ended the reunion between you and your parents so I decided to leave it at that._**

**_Optimus: Still it is a shame that the readers will not be able to read such an interesting and entertaining scene from this chapter, or the one from a previous chapter that would have brought a small amount of humor._**

**_AN: Well I am actually thinking of doing a small collection of one-shots that are actually deleted scenes from this story, but that may come after I finish with this story at the latest so that's something to look forward to._**

**_Elita: How'd you come up with the idea of having Kira and the others use Birdie to find me and Bumblebee anyways?_**

**_AN: Well that's partially because I wanted Birdie to have a more active role at least once in this story beyond just being a symbolic gift of Athrun and Kira's friendship, and this was what I came up with. The idea itself was actually based on the Transformers Armada version of Laserbeak._**

**_Cagalli: Yeah I guess that makes sense. Still I gotta say, that flashback scene where you show Kira and Flay's breakup and redo it so that Kira actually slaps Flay is pretty impressive._**

**_AN: Yeah well I'll be honest, every time I watch that scene in the anime, I always find myself nearly screaming at Kira to slap the girl, and show of hands who hasn't wanted him to do that? And for those of you that actually like Flay and Kira together don't count. _**

**_Kira: I can understand that. So I guess we should expect the next chapter soon?_**

**_AN: Actually, no probably not. I may or may not take a small break for a bit for the holidays so if I don't post something before the new year rolls around, that would be why. You know spending holidays with your family and loved ones instead of with your computer and all that._**

**_Optimus: That is most certainly an idea and a tradition of your human holidays that I can agree with and enjoy along with you. [Holds Elita One's hand in his as they both smile at one and other.]_**

**_Kira: And now I feel lonely._**

**_Cagalli: Uh Kira, you do know you still have Lacus right?_**

**_Kira: [smile before looking around for a safe] What isn't that a spoiler?_**

**_AN: Uh no. Everyone knows that even in a number of Fanfictions, to the best of my knowledge, you're gonna end up with Lacus anyways so..._**

**_Kira: Fair enough._**

**_AN: Anyhow, onto the preview for the next chapter!_**

**_The _****Omega II ****_and the _****Archangel****_ head out once again, leading Athrun and Kira into battle against one and other once more. What is going through the minds of the two as they find themselves forced to fight with each other once more, and how will Athrun be able to deal with things when another person other than Dearka reveals that they know at least some of the secret about himself and Kira? As Optimus and the Autobots engage Dreadwing and the Decepticons in a new battle stronger than ever alongside Kira and the Earth Forces ship the question remains, will the two sides be able to survive the next battle, or will they all come to find themselves facing yet another tragedy on the battlefield? Next time on Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Prime…_****Chapter 19: The Next Turning Point_. Carefully e_****_nsure that the Gundam knows when to swing that sword Autobots!_**

**_Please read and review and I'll see you next time!_**

**_Everyone from the entire cast so far: Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone!_**


	19. 19: The Next Turning Point

_**AN: Happy New Year everyone, and welcome to 2015! And to start things off, I figure what better way than with the latest chapter of this story? So without further ado, here's the next chapter in the new saga of the Cosmic Era and the Transformers. Expect difficult battles, shocking revelations, and an ending you may or may not have ever expected.**_

_**I do not own anything from either the Gundam or Transformers franchises, or any other franchise that is mentioned in this story.**_

* * *

**Chapter 19: The Next Turning Point**

It was the morning after Athrun had encountered Kira at Orb, and the Z.A.F.T. and Decepticon ships were now hidden away outside of Orb waters resupplying, with the respective leaders of each team overseeing the resupply on the decks of their ships. Well, Dreadwing was overseeing the resupplying while Athrun was gazing off into space thinking about a number of things that were plaguing his thoughts, or rather two things that were plaguing his thoughts.

The first of which was Kira. After encountering his old friend in the caves on that last mission he took part in alongside the Decepticons, he felt as though his old friendship with Kira had become stronger than ever, and not only that, but now he was worried what might happen now that Dearka knew about his connection to the Strike pilot. Oh Dearka did promise that he would keep Athrun's secret from the other members of the Zala team just as Dreadwing had done the same with keeping his knowledge on who the Strike pilot was from the other Decepticons, but Athrun still could not help but worry. Then there was what Kira had told him at Orb the previous night. He knew what Kira meant when he had said what he said to him, and he felt really good knowing that Kira still considered him to be a valuable friend, a fact that showed through the fact that he had taken and continued to take such good care of Birdie. Even though Athrun knew all of this and was touched by it, he knew that one thing had not changed, a fact he stated to himself aloud saying, "But you were still on the other side of that fence."

His thoughts then drifted to someone else who had been on his mind lately. Specifically, a certain young, blonde haired girl that he had only met in person once on a deserted island. Cagalli had been on Athrun's mind ever since he heard her announce her identity to the Orb Forces a few weeks ago. When he first met her, Athrun could not deny that there was something about Cagalli that had intrigued him, and something that made him feel like he should know her from somewhere. As soon as he found out that she was the Orb Princess he was thrown for a loop just like everyone else, and even so, something about her just seem to keep bringing his thoughts back to her. Was it the words she had spoken to him while they were on that island with Dreadwing and Arcee, or was it the fact that despite not being a soldier she seemed so determined to stop anyone that insisted on continuing this war. "Cagalli Yula Athha," Athrun then commented to himself again with a slight chuckle. "Well you certainly weren't kidding when you said you weren't with the Earth Forces."

"Athrun," a voice called out to him, bringing his attention back to the present just in time to see Nicol running up to him. "Hey, are we done with the resupply yet?"

"All done on both accounts, right Dreadwing," Athrun called out.

"Affirmative Athrun Zala," Dreadwing confirmed. "I will see you in our next briefing for the upcoming battle."

Athrun nodded at that as Dreadwing moved to reenter the _Havoc_ to meet with his team, and get them organized. As he did, Nicol pointed out a school of flying fish off the deck of their ship that they should check out, but Athrun politely declined prompting Nicol to take a seat next to his friend as they both gazed out to the horizon. Athrun then felt he the need to ask, "Why did you volunteer for the military Nicol?"

Nicol gave his friend a questioning glance, wondering what brought that up all of a sudden, which lead Athrun to quickly state, "I'm sorry, it's none of my business."

"It's okay," Nicol assured him with a smile. He then answered his friend and commander's question saying, "I guess I felt like I should do my part and join the fight after I heard about Junius Seven. And you?"

Athrun looked at Nicol for a moment before replying with a small smile, "The very same reason Nicol."

Nicol nodded and then looked off into the distance again as he stated, "It actually kind of makes you wonder why some Decepticons like Knockout or Dreadwing joined their military doesn't it?"

Athrun nodded in agreement at that, not because he did not already know at least Dreadwing's reason for fighting with the Decepticons, he was well aware of that fact, but because the idea behind that statement did make one wonder about why people decided to join a military of any kind whether they be from Earth or even another planet.

* * *

Dreadwing was making his way through the _Havoc_ when he came upon Knockout, grumbling about something. "Everything okay here," Dreadwing asked.

"No," Knockout flatly stated. "Dealing with Barricade and his Decimators is hard enough, with that overgrown bug here it makes things so unbearable that I'm surprised that my finish hasn't begun to wear just from being in the same room as them."

The drama king of the Decepticons was of course referring to what he had to deal with after Barricade's team and Airachnid had joined up with them at Megatron's orders. Needless to say, saying it was a difficult adjustment for all of the Decepticons would be putting it extremely nicely. Airachnid and Slipstream were almost constantly at each other's throats in some struggle for dominance that no one understood, while the Decimators all seemed to have the idea ingrained into their processors that they should be running the show. Thankfully, Dreadwing was able to handle things most of the time, but he could not be everywhere at once, and when he was not around things got heated once again.

"Honestly Dreadwing, I don't know what Lord Megatron was thinking assigning those loose cannons to this unit. Like things weren't bad enough as they were, now we have this baggage to deal with," Knockout continued to complain.

"Are you questioning our leader's orders Knockout," Dreadwing questioned, the underlying warning not going unnoticed by anyone within listening range.

"No of course not! I'm just saying that the sooner this little team's work ends the better we'll all be is all," Knockout hastily replied.

Dreadwing nodded at that and then simply moved to continue on his way before Knockout stated, "But I'd watch my back around Airachnid if I were you. It's no secret that she has had just as many plans of her own as Starscream has had of stealing power from Megatron, and I wouldn't put it past her to see taking you down as a step closer to achieving that goal."

Dreadwing did not acknowledge that with any form of reply, but he did nod in understanding of that, as he knew this to be true. Thankfully, he intended to show Airachnid that he was not as easily dealt with as she must believe him to be.

* * *

Meanwhile in Orb, everyone was preparing themselves for the departure of both the _Archangel_ and the _Omega II_ the following morning. The Autobots had decided to travel the rest of the way to Alaska with Ratchet and Ironhide remaining behind in Orb as support for Orb in case the Decepticons moved to attack the peaceful nation. This decision was helped by the fact that Colonel Kisaka had informed them all of the intelligence that Orb had received of the recent activity in Carpentaria and rumors Z.A.F.T. planning a massive operation, and Optimus knew that if the rumors were true, then the Megatron and his forces would more than likely be a part of such a grand operation. The Autobots were not going to stand by and do nothing knowing this, so any argument on whether or not the _Omega II_ would be joining the _Archangel_ in finishing its journey to Alaska was immediately dropped.

As for the _Archangel_ crew, they were doing everything they could think of to prepare for their departure and eventual arrival in Alaska, with Kira doing some final maintenance on the Strike, Tolle running through as many flight simulations as he could, and everyone else doing whatever they could think of doing to prepare themselves. Of course there was also another reason for all this.

That reason was everyone's concerns about the Z.A.F.T.-Decepticon team that had been pursuing the two ships for so long. Kisaka had assured them that there was a strong possibility that the team had given up and left seeing as they had not been spotted near Orb for so long, and things had gone well for them on the diplomatic side, but that did nothing to alleviate anyone's concerns. Optimus himself had stated that if the Decepticons had even the smallest reason to believe they were still here in Orb, then the chances of encountering the Zala team and Dreadwing's unit were quite high, a fact that all Autobots agreed with given how much experience they had all had with dealing with Decepticons after so many years.

The only downside that everyone saw in their departure was that they would be leaving friends and family alike behind. While the Autobots would be leaving behind Ironhide and Ratchet, and the_Archangel_ crew members their families, there was one person in particular that they all would miss after their departure from Orb, and that was Cagalli who had decided to stay in Orb after a heart to heart talk with her father that gave her some things to think about when it concerned ending the two wars that Earth had been caught in. Though they all understood Cagalli's desire to stay, they all made sure to make it no secret that she would be missed, especially Arcee, who received a hug from her little sister figure in reply.

The morning of their departure finally came as the two ships received word from the Orb fleet that they could proceed according to schedule. The fleet had agreed to be a kind of escort for the two ships as a way of masking the two ships' departure. Before the _Archangel_ could move to leave, Lord Uzumi arrived at the dock requesting that Kira come out on the upper deck for a moment. Kira did as asked, and soon noticed that Bumblebee and Optimus had done the same as him, climbing out onto the upper deck of _Omega II_. The three wondered for a moment what the reason for this was when they heard Cagalli calling out to them.

Kira and the Bots turned to see Cagalli running over to the _Archangel_ dressed in an Orb uniform of her own calling out, "Kira your parents are here just look up there!"

Kira's head spun around to where Cagalli had indicated and he saw his parents looking down and calling out to him through the sound proof glass, a sight that both Optimus and Bumblebee saw as well, and which brought small smiles to all three of their faces. Kira suddenly found himself unsure of what to do, despite the fact that he had met with them, he was not sure what to think of seeing them here now. Cagalli then came up onto the deck, and after catching her breath she asked, "Why aren't you at least waving to them? Say something Kira."

She then saw a small, sad look on Kira's face and understood at least a small amount of what Kira was thinking right then. "Cagalli could you tell them sorry, but not right now? I don't think right now is…" Kira could not bring himself to finish that sentence as he could already feel tears coming to his eyes.

Understanding full well what Kira meant at that point Cagalli said okay and then let her friend turn to reenter the ship. Kira then paused for a moment and then turned to face Cagalli once again as he said, "Take care of yourself Cagalli, and thanks for everything."

Cagalli then found she could not take anymore and found herself running over to her friend and grabbing him in a strong hug that Kira happily returned. Neither one of them noticed the shocked expressions of their parents when they saw the two embrace, but it was a fact that did not go unnoticed by the two Autobots, which lead both scout and leader to wonder what the reason for this was.

"Listen," Cagalli whispered to Kira. "Don't get killed."

Kira gave Cagalli an understanding smile as he reassured her, "Don't you worry. Nothing's gonna happen to me. I'll be with Optimus and Bumblebee."

Cagalli nodded as she released Kira and disembarked from the _Archangel_ while giving the two Autobots a look that said she was counting on them to look out for him. Optimus and Bumblebee both answered it with a nod of understanding and then moved to reenter their own vessel. Before they did, they looked back to Kira's parents one last time and nodded to them as they thought,_Do not worry Mr. and Mrs. Yamato. We will keep our promise to keep your son safe as best as we can._

The promise they were thinking of was one they made after Kira had brought his parents to meet his new best friend, Bumblebee, and the rest of the Autobots the same day he went to meet with them, not wanting to hide anything from his parents. Optimus then swore by the spark of Primus to Kira's parents that so long as Kira piloted a mobile suit and the Autobots fought alongside him, that he would do everything in his power to keep the young Coordinator safe, a promise that was immediately echoed by Bumblebee, and both were more than determined to see that promise through to the end if they had to.

With everything having been said and done, the doors to the two hangars then opened and the two ships moved out to return to their journey to Alaska and to return to the battlefield once more. Cagalli watched them go, with a sure look on her face that showed how certain she was that the two ships and all the friends of hers that were on them would make it to their destination safely, and as soon as the two ships left the underground hangar, her watching was joined by a familiar red truck and white ambulance that were silently praying to Primus that their friends and comrades, who they now considered as a part of their family would be safe.

* * *

Athrun had rushed to the control room as soon as he heard from the carrier sub's captain that there was activity in the Orb fleet, despite the fact that nothing was scheduled. Despite the fact that they had no identification on any of the vessels that were heading Northeast, Athrun did not need to know in order to know what was going on and immediately ordered the ship to prepare for battle and alert the _Havoc_ to the situation. As he ran through the halls towards the locker room for his flight suit, he crossed paths with Jaylen standing off to the side like she was waiting for him.

"Jaylen is there a problem," Athrun asked as he came to a stop.

"Actually I just wanted to talk to you about something concerning the enemy," Jaylen replied with a knowing smile. Athrun nodded in reply, prompting her to continue, "You know who the Strike pilot is don't you?"

It may have been phrased as a question, but the way that Jaylen had said it made it seem more like a statement. Athrun knew that was exactly what she meant it as, and was shocked and wondering how she knew. Jaylen then smiled as she answered Athrun's unasked question saying, "I had a suspicion that you might, but I didn't want to approach you until I was certain."

"And what helped you come to that conclusion," Athrun asked, finally regaining his voice, grateful that no one else was around.

"The other night in Orb," Jaylen casually replied. "I'm sure you remember the fact that you gave a robotic bird back to its owner, and I saw the look of recognition on your face at the sight of said bird and of the person it belonged to. The fact that you seemed so certain that the Legged Ship and the Autobot vessel were in Orb still just further proved that fact, and given that Dearka seemed to recognize him as well, I can only guess that he had met him recently somehow. So I have to ask, who is he?"

Athrun looked around one more time to make sure no one else was present to hear this, and then sighed, knowing that he could no longer hide it from Jaylen. "His name is Kira Yamato, and he was my best friend from back when I lived on the moon. I hadn't seen him until the attack on Heliopolis, which was when he first began piloting the Strike. The other reason I kept quiet about this though, is that Kira is Coordinator like us who was living in Orb."

Jaylen nodded in understanding, and then placed a hand on Athrun's shoulder as she stated, "Don't worry, I don't intend to tell anyone who doesn't already know, and I totally get why you're not so eager to fight against him. So if that is the case, who do you want to fight?"

Athrun looked at her in confusion before saying, "It's not like I want to fight someone specific…"

"Yeah I get that. Same goes for me," Jaylen cut in with a chuckle. She then gained a serious expression, "We never really want to fight against someone, but when everything boils down to it, we're still soldiers. We have to fight who we're told to even if we don't like it. I get that you don't enjoy fighting your friend, especially a friend that's as close to you as this Kira is, but I won't tell you to forget about him and just fight him like any other enemy. Whatever happens out there today, just know that I'll support whatever call you make no matter what happens."

Athrun stared at Jaylen for a moment, wondering how someone could be as good natured, kind, and understanding as her, and then gave her a grateful smile as he said, "Thanks Jaylen. I appreciate that. And thanks for everything else you've done for us up to this point as well."

Jaylen looked at Athrun in confusion for a moment and tried to say that she did not do all that much before Athrun cut in saying, "You may not have been with us since the start, but you are definitely a welcome part of this team, and I'm grateful to count you as one of my friends."

Jaylen then smiled and nodded in thanks to Athrun before the two ran off to the locker room to get themselves prepped for battle along with the others. A moment later, they had all suited up and boarded their respective machines, waiting for the call which soon came as one of the crew announced, _"Two of the ships are separating from the enemy fleet. Identifying…It's the Legged Ship and the Autobot Vessel!"_

Exclamations of surprise and impression were shared throughout the Zala team and the Decepticon team alike, as Nicol called out, "I knew you were right Athrun."

_"__Awaiting your decision Commander Zala,"_ Dreadwing stated over the comm. link.

"We're taking off," Athrun declared. "Those ships go down today!"

With that, the Zala team launched into what they intended to be the final battle with the Earth Forces Legged Ship and the Autobot Vessel, with Dreadwing and the Decepticons on the _Havoc_ not far behind as the Decepticon commander shouted out, "Decepticons, transform and rise up! Prepare to annihilate the enemy ships!"

* * *

"Heads up folks," Wheeljack called out from his post on _Omega II_'s bridge. "Scanners just picked up on five human mobile suits and a number of Decepticon signals!"

Through their interlinked comm. system, the _Archangel_ crew heard Wheeljack's report, which was then confirmed by the officer monitoring the radar on the Earth Forces ship. "Checking readouts now," Hound reported from his computer. "Mobile suits ids are Aegis, Buster, Blitz, Duel, and the unknown; Decepticons in the sky are Dreadwing, Thundercracker, Skywarp, Slipstream, Blackout and an unknown helicopter that scans are reading as Airachnid, with Breakdown, Barricade, and Junkheap stationed on the upper deck of the Decepticon vessel."

_"__They were hiding. They were waiting for us,"_ Natarle exclaimed from aboard the _Archangel_.

_"__Crew, prepare for undersea and air battle! We have to lose them. I know it's a tall order but I'm sure we can do it,"_ Captain Ramius then ordered.

"Autobots, prepare to roll out," Optimus then ordered his own troops. "Elita, stay and cover the bridge. The rest of you load up and report to battle stations!"

_"__ECM at maximum strength! Deploy smoke dischargers and lay down a smokescreen on both sides,"_ Natarle then commanded.

"Jazz, Bumblebee…" Optimus began.

"Way ahead of ya Prime," Jazz stated as he grabbed a Nucleon Charge Rifle while Bumblebee grabbed himself a Photon Burst Rifle. The Autobots heading out into battle then all grabbed jetpacks for themselves. While they were in Orb, Ratchet was kind enough to help Elita develop a few more of the flight assisting devices for the Autobot team, but the downside was that the jetpacks only allowed for a limited amount of flight, so they all knew that they would have to be careful with how they used them, especially in the case of Bots who preferred close combat such as Bulkhead and Wheeljack.

_"__Connecting power conduits. Auxiliary power online. Standing by and ready,"_ Kira reported from in the Strike as he had the mobile suit standing ready on the deck at the edge of the launch bay door with the Striker pack's main gun connected to a long cable that extended from the floor.

Jazz and Bumblebee then moved into positions themselves on the upper deck of the _Omega II_ while Optimus and the other Autobots made sure to stay out of sight for a moment, as the_Archangel_ set up the smokescreen that Natarle had ordered. From where the Decepticons and the Zala team were standing, nothing that had happened so far seemed all that impressive. "Do they really think a smokescreen will help them," Slipstream asked rhetorically.

"Heh, they're getting cute with us," Yzak stated from in the Duel. The next thing any of them knew, two Sky Graspers burst out of the heavy man-made cloud cover, one with the Aile Striker and the other with Sword. Neither Yzak nor Slipstream wasted time firing on the two aircraft, only for both planes to swerve to the side and avoid the shots all together. Before any of the Cons or Z.A.F.T. pilots could make any moves against the aircraft, a large red beam fired right into their midst, along with a number of energon bullets that nearly hit Airachnid in her new helicopter form and one of Dreadwing's wings.

"Everyone scatter," Athrun and Dreadwing called out simultaneously, and order that was immediately followed by everyone as the red beams and energon bullets kept coming.

"There's a couple of snipers on the Autobot ship," Skywarp exclaimed.

"No really? What was your first clue," Barricade mocked as he opened fire with his own rifle into the smoke. Neither of them could say anymore as a moment later, a fully powered up Strike burst from the smoke with Hound and Optimus not far behind him. Dearka and Yzak immediately opened fire with support from all three of the Seeker siblings, but it was all for not as Optimus and Hound returned fire on the Seekers, knocking Skywarp and Slipstream out of the sky. Optimus then glanced towards the Strike and saw that Kira did not seem to be able to get enough altitude, until the blue and white mobile suit landed swiftly on top of Slipstream.

"You little brat! I ain't no springboard," Slipstream shouted indignantly as Kira launched the Strike from off of the top of the obviously humiliated Con, sending her flying into another shot from one of the Autobots' the mystery snipers. Kira then landed a hard kick on the Buster and followed up with a shot at the transport the Duel was on, sending both Yzak and Dearka hurtling out of the sky as well.

"Hang on you guys," Athrun called to his friends as he, Nicol, Jaylen, Dreadwing, and the remaining aerial Cons moved to fire on the Strike and the two Autobot commanders. Before they could even get close to either one, the _Archangel_ and _Omega II_ emerged from the smoke, with guns blazing, scattering them once more. As she moved away though, Airachnid found herself flying right into the line of fire of Arcee, who had immediately opened fire on the helicopter, spider-like Con as soon as she was in the two-wheeler's sights.

As the _Omega II_ fully emerged from the smoke, Jazz and Bumblebee could be seen standing up from where they had been lying on the deck with their respective snipers in hand, putting out covering fire with said weapons as they did, while the other Bots moved up to start shooting as well. Despite the fact that the Seekers were knocked aside for the moment, they were quick to recover and soon the Autobots were once again outnumbered eight to seven, and the fact that they were also being attacked by the Z.A.F.T. pilots did nothing to help either. Then again, it was not like they were really trying all that hard at the moment.

While the two ships and the Autobots were keeping the enemy occupied, Mu flew in his Sky Grasper to deploy the Aile Striker pack to Kira, who was able to handle changing to the equipment in mid-air easily. Seeing that Kira had successfully done so, the Autobots then began fighting for real, as Wheeljack and Bulkhead used their jetpacks to rocket towards the _Havoc_ and take on Barricade, Junkheap, and Breakdown. "Well, well Wheeljack. Back for another thrashing," Barricade snarled.

"That depends on whether or not you can take it like a mech Barricade," Wheeljack replied as he whipped out his swords and activated his battle mask. "By the way, you hoping to join a pirate crew or something, or did none of the other 'Cons want to give you a new optic so that they could all mock you about something for a change?" Wheeljack was referring to the fact that the optic that Mu had shot out in their last encounter was now covered by an eye patch, and Barricade did not like anyone reminding him of the fact he had it or of how he had gotten it. With a loud growl from Barricade, the two then immediately rushed each other and clashed their respective weapons against the other's. Wheeljack's swords against Barricade's nun-chucks, and neither one of them were willing to give an inch.

Bulkhead on the other hand had decided to let his old pal have Barricade all to himself while he handled the other two 'Cons on the _Havoc_'s deck. "Well while those two have their fun, what's say you guys go a few rounds with me?"

"Gladly," Breakdown snarled as he brought out his hammer. "I intend to follow through with your challenge from the desert Bulkhead."

"Oh you were actually planning to accept that," Bulkhead exclaimed in fake surprise. "I thought you were going to run away like a little sparkling every time you were reminded of it."

Breakdown roared in anger and then charged at Bulkhead with Junkheap right behind him with a battle staff he had pulled from his trunk. Bulkhead immediately blocked the two strikes and pushed them back before slamming his two wrecking balls into the two of them. Anyone could tell just from looking that this was going to be an all out brawl.

* * *

Arcee was having an equally difficult time of her own with Airachnid, because as soon as she finally knocked the spider 'Con out of the air, she had immediately rushed after Airachnid to meet her head on, and the two had begun trading blows instantly. Arcee only made a slight note of how three of her fellow Autobots, Kira, and Tolle were able to knock the Blitz and Blackout out of the sky and how Jazz and Hound went after said Con while Bumblebee and Optimus helped Kira deal with the now returned Seeker siblings, Dreadwing, and the Aegis. As she did note all of this though, she realized that something was wrong with that picture. The unknown machine with the battle axe, long gun, and large backpack was missing. She soon found out what had happened to it, as the Zaku Accelerant suddenly hit her from behind with a missile barrage.

Arcee did a hand spring to help herself land on her feet, and immediately brought out her Plasma Cannon, only to be hit once again by Thundercracker, who had somehow slipped away from the battle that was keeping his siblings occupied. "What's the matter Airachnid? I thought you preferred to work alone these days," Arcee mocked in an attempt to throw her opponents off.

"Well that was then, and I'm quickly finding that having at least one or two people support you does have its advantages. Especially since our last encounter," Airachnid replied coolly. "Oh and speaking of which, once I'm finished with you, I intend to find your little human friend and make her pay as well. Slowly and painfully."

If Arcee was not angry before, she was most definitely furious now, as she charged in with her Plasma Cannon charging up and an arm blade out shouting, "You stay away from my little sister!"

Arcee then started fighting like a whole different person, as she swiftly knocked the Zaku Accelerant away with a hard kick, and slashed at Airachnid, which was quickly followed up by a powerful burst from the Plasma Cannon on Thundercracker, bringing him out of the sky. Though Arcee was doing well, it did not change the fact that she was not fighting with a clear head at the moment, a fact that Airachnid was quick to take advantage of, as she used one of her spider legs to knock Arcee off her feet and send her flying right into Thundercracker's Shockwave burst.

Arcee propped herself up on her arms as she looked up to see both 'Cons snickering down at her, as though she were now finished for sure, when suddenly, a beam blast forced both of them to back off. Arcee looked towards the source expecting to see Kira, but was instead met with the sight of Tolle's Sky Grasper plane. Taking advantage of her opponents' confusion, Arcee quickly spun her leg around to kick Thundercracker's feet out from under him, and then fired a fully charged burst from the Plasma Cannon right into Airachnid's chest, sending her flying.

Arcee then stood up and gave Tolle a mock salute as he flew over in thanks, and then returned her attention to the battle at hand.

Overall, from an observation on the _Archangel_ bridge, the _Omega II_ bridge, or simply from where Kira and Optimus were standing, the battle seemed to be going well. Bumblebee had been able to drive off Skywarp, leaving only the Aegis and Dreadwing for Kira and Optimus to deal with respectively. Kira had already switched the Strike's equipment over to the Sword Striker thanks to Tolle's support, and Optimus had since brought out his Energon Battle Axe, and the two had immediately charged into battle against their opponents.

* * *

As he looked from his opponents, to the battlefield, and finally his mobile suit's low energy gauge, Athrun could not deny that things were not looking good for his team or Dreadwing's. Even so, with a simple glance and a nod from Dreadwing, Athrun knew that there was no way either of them were giving up so easily and even as Kira and Optimus stood their ground in front of their respective ships, Athrun and Dreadwing charged in, beam saber and sword swinging at the two.

"Athrun enough," Kira cried out as he brought the Strike's massive sword down against the Aegis's shield. "I don't want to fight you anymore!"

"It's too late for that," Athrun retorted. "So come on and shoot me just like you said you would! Isn't that what you said, that you'd destroy me?!"

Athrun moved to have the Aegis slash at Kira once more, only for his attack to be intercepted by Optimus's Battle Axe. "Athrun Zala and Dreadwing," Optimus declared in a tone similar to the one he used when he spoke to Waltfeld. "This battle is over! Now be gone!"

Optimus then parried Athrun's sword away and landed a hard hit to the Aegis's head, while Kira used the Strike's sword to deflect an attack on Optimus from Dreadwing and mirrored Optimus's action by landing a hard right hook into Dreadwing face as well. The blow from Optimus caused the Aegis to immediately power down, and the Strike's blow against Dreadwing caused the large, aerial Decepticon to find himself struggling to rise. Kira then hefted the Strike's Anti-Ship sword over the mobile suit's shoulder, when a sudden cry drew everyone's attention. "Athrun get out of there!"

They all turned to see the now one-armed Blitz deactivating its Mirage Colloid, and charging in with a spear in an attempt to strike at Kira. Everything seemed to move in slow motion for a moment as Kira brought the large sword down and then moved to slash at the Blitz out of reflex, and the sword was headed right for Nicol's cockpit. Just before the blade struck, a loud roar of an engine was heard, and the Blitz was tackled out of the way by a Transformer that raced up and vehicle mode and then switched to robot mode right at the last moment before hitting the black colored mobile suit.

Everyone looked on in shock at what had just happened, many grateful that Kira had not taken another life by accident just then, but the thing that had nearly all of them shocked was not that the Strike had just swung its sword in a killing blow out of reflex, but rather who had just saved Nicol's life. There, rising up from the ground so that he was not on top of the Blitz was not Knockout, Breakdown, or any of the other ground based Decepticons, but the Autobots' bravest, and eternally hopeful scout, Bumblebee. While Optimus found this to not be all that surprising at all, everyone else found the fact that Bumblebee had just saved the life of someone who was supposed to be his enemy for no reason at all to be beyond shocking. None more so than the person who's life Bumblebee just saved himself.

As he looked up at the gold Autobot from his cockpit, Nicol could only stare in shock at what had just happened, with one question racing through his mind more dominantly than any other. "Wh…Why did you…," Nicol asked softly to no one in particular. The shock of this caused everyone to be unprepared for what happened immediately after.

"Athrun, Nicol, hang on," Jaylen cried out as she flew the Zaku Accelerant in, using its large battle axe to knock Bumblebee off of Nicol, thinking that the scout intended to bring further harm to her comrade. Kira immediately snapped at the sight of Bumblebee being attacked, and the moment he saw the Zaku Accelerant racing to strike down Optimus, Kira just reacted and swung the Strike's sword right at the Zaku's cockpit, and this time his attack hit the mark.

As her machine began to spark and explode, Jaylen used the last of her strength to look toward the Aegis and the Blitz, who's pilots were now beyond shocked at the sight of their comrade being struck in the way that she had been, and called out as best she could, "A…Athrun…Nicol…run."

A moment later, the Zaku Accelerant and its pilot, both of which had only been a part of the Zala team for such little time vanished forever in a massive explosion. Everyone was shocked at this sight. Optimus and Bumblebee at the fact that the humans' war had caused a young man they came to care a great deal for to bloody his hands with the blood of his own kind, Dreadwing at the sight of another comrade being killed, Kira at the fact that he had just killed someone, even without meaning to, and Athrun and Nicol at the sight of losing a friend that had just sacrificed herself to save them. The final pair felt their despair finally consume them, as they cried out in that despair their lost friend's name one last time, "JAYLEN!"

A moment later the Buster and the Duel landed on the small island that their comrades and enemies alike were on, also in shock at the loss of their comrade and barely even able to believe their eyes. That shock quickly turned to rage as Yzak charged in, beam rifle blazing as he cried out, "You did this. YOU'LL PAY STRIKE! YOU'LL PAY AUTOBOTS! YOU'LL ALL PAY!"

"Athrun, Nicol," Dearka called out as he began firing on their enemies along with Yzak as a way to cover his friends' retreat.

_"__Optimus, Bumblebee, what's taking you guys so long,"_ Elita called out over her radio.

_"__Ensign Yamato return to the ship now! There's no need to pursue them any further,"_ Natarle ordered Kira. With that being said, the Strike immediately made a beeline for the _Archangel_ as the large white ship lay down some covering fire for both its mobile suit and their allies. The _Omega II_ quickly joined in with the barrage of covering fire as the Autobots returned to their ship as well and drove back both the Decepticons and the Zala team, who was now down one member.

Yzak and Slipstream both tried to fire on their retreating foes, only to become the focus of an enemy bombardment. "Yzak stop it! We need to regroup," Dearka called out to his friend, who just growled in defeat at that.

"Decepticons, retreat," Dreadwing called out. With that, the Zala team and the Decepticons made their way back to their own respective ships, the whole time the Z.A.F.T. pilots, and Dreadwing were all silently swearing to themselves one simple oath. _No matter what it takes, the Strike will pay for taking our comrade today._

* * *

**_AN: Okay I know this is probably one of my shorter chapters, but really there wasn't all that much to put in there this time, otherwise we'd spend more time with conversations that took place before the battle like in the original anime, and the battle would've felt, in my opinion, far too drawn out._**

**_All and all, for those of you who guessed that Nicol would survive this battle while Jaylen did not, give yourselves a pat on the back for figuring out that plot line. I like Nicol, he's a good guy, and he is definitely not someone who should've been killed off just like that. Plus he's a musician, and being a musician myself, I just can't help but like the guy. So yeah, I know adding an OC to die in Nicol's place is a little cliche, but hey cut me some slack! If no one died in that battle then Athrun would not have the motivation he needed to fight Kira so seriously, and I wasn't going to kill off Dreadwing, I've got other plans for him, and I highly doubt it would make as much an impact if it were one of the other Decepticons. I believe that someone once said in both a movie and a popular TV series that where there is death there will always be death or something to that effect. Anyways, onto the preview..._**

**_The spark of another life has been extinguished from the universe. As the thoughts of never being able to hear the voice, or see the end of the war alongside their lost comrade rings through his head, Athrun finds that he must find solace and advice in Dearka, who knows the secret of the Strike pilot's identity, and in his friend Nicol, whom he now reveals the truth to. With vengeance strong in their minds, Athrun charges out again to meet Kira once more on the battlefield. Can Optimus and the Autobots force back the attacking Decepticons to save their young mobile suit pilot friend, or will even Bumblebee, one of the fastest of the Autobots on _****Omega II****_, not be able to make it in time? Just what fate awaits the rest of the combatants in the storm that is about to rage on the battlefield? And how many more lives must be lost in this pointless war before Kira and Athrun start fighting one and other with everything they have? Next time on Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Prime…_****Chapter 20: Blades of Vengeance****_. Prepare for a hell fire unlike anything seen before Gundam and Transformers!_**

**_Please read and review, and I'll see you next time! Same Gundam channel...Same Autobot time!...Sorry I've been playing Lego Batman 3 a lot recently and that just kinda had to be put in there somehow._**


	20. 20: Blades of Vengeance

**_AN: Hey how about that, new chapter up already! I guess I shouldn't be that surprised, I'm so close to a lot of the major points in this story that I just had to get this out as soon as I could. Before we go on, let's answer some reviews._**

**_First off a review from "Czar Joseph" that was posted back in Chapter 18: I have already mentioned when the Dinobots would appear in an authors note a few chapters back so, not to be rude or anything, but if you want that question answered, go back and look in that chapter. It'll be the author's note of Chapter 9 just so you know._**

**_Next off is a question also posted back in Chapter 18 from "Lone Gundam": Well...It depends on your definition of Cybertronian technology. I will say that the Freedom and Justice will have a bit of a change due to the Transformers being on Earth, but I won't say anything more than that. Don't worry though, the chapter in which the Freedom first appears at all is just a short ways off. I'd honestly say like one or maybe two chapters after this one or so give or take._**

**_Sorry for not answering these questions sooner, but hey now you know._**

**_?: And knowing is half the battle! G.I. Joe!_**

**_AN: What the?! What are you doing here Wheeljack?_**

**_Wheeljack: What I thought it would be good for me to make an appearance this time._**

**_AN: Sorry Jackie, no time for that today, but you can do the disclaimer if you want._**

**_Wheeljack: Eh I'll take what I can get. lyokoMARVELanime does not own anything from any of the Gundam or Transformers franchises or any other franchise mentioned in this story._**

**_AN: Okay, it's showtime!_**

* * *

**Chapter 20: Blades of Vengeance**

As soon as the Strike was aboard the _Archangel_, and the Autobots were aboard the _Omega II_, the two ships had left the combat zone at maximum speed, or rather at the _Archangel_'s maximum speed since the _Omega II_ was capable of much faster speeds than the Earth Forces ship. As soon as Kira had brought his mobile suit in and stepped onto the floor from the cockpit, he was immediately greeted by Murdoch and the other engineers, the former of which led the round of congratulations saying, "Good work kid. I hear ya finally got one of 'em."

Though it was meant as a comment, to Kira it was just a reminder of the fact he had just committed a horrible act that no good person should have to perform. It was not long into the round of congratulations he was receiving until he finally snapped as Kira nearly shouted, "Stop it! I just killed someone! How could…how could you say I did a good job out there?!"

"What's the big deal? You've been doing this for a while now," one of the engineers pointed out. That was most definitely the wrong thing to say, as Kira found himself getting more horrified with himself, and angrier with the men that were surrounding him.

"Hey cut it out! Can't you see the kid's exhausted," Mu shouted as he shoved one of the men in orange work clothes aside, attempting to come to Kira's rescue. He then held out his hand to Kira as he softly told him, "Kira, come on. Let's get out of here."

Kira just glared at the offered hand for a moment before he turned away and stormed out of the hangar. He barely registered the confused mutterings of the engineers or Murdoch telling them to get back to work, nor did he notice that Mu was chasing after him until the blonde pilot was right next to him saying, "They didn't mean to upset you."

Kira just ignored him as he sped up his pace to move ahead, but even so, Mu continued trying to cheer the young man up saying, "You know we all consider you one of us Kira."

"Yeah I know that," Kira stated somberly, finally acknowledging that Mu was there.

It was still not enough for La Flaga, who simply growled and placed a hand on Kira's shoulder, finally getting the ensign to stop. "Kira, we're not murderers," Mu told him in a no-nonsense tone. "But we are soldiers, and we're fighting a war here! If you don't get them, they'll get you. That goes for you, for me, for all of us!"

"I know that," Kira shouted, throwing La Flaga an angry glare to meet the one that the commander now had on his face.

"Get a grip kid, or it'll cost you your life," La Flaga told him heatedly, almost making it sound like an order, something that Mu hardly ever did with Kira. Kira just responded by continuing to glare at La Flaga until something started to beep in his ear.

Kira quickly realized that it was the Autobot communicator he often used while he was in Orb, which he had elected to have on him at all times just in case, even in his mobile suit. Realizing this, and the fact that Mu's was also going off, the two tapped the devices that were still in place giving the go ahead to whomever was on the other end. It turned out to be Elita One who told them, _"Kira, Optimus has requested that you come over to _Omega II_ for a moment. He's already cleared it with Captain Ramius and Lieutenant Badgiruel, so we're just waiting for your okay to say that you're ready to come over."_

Kira paused for a moment to calm himself down a bit before he responded saying, "Okay, just give me a minute to change out of my pilot suit."

_"__Not a problem. Once you're ready though, head for the _Archangel_'s hangar. It's the only part of the ship most of us feel okay with opening a Ground Bridge in at this time."_

"Roger that," Kira answered before he cut the communication and then walked off to the locker room to retrieve his regular uniform. As he watched him go, Mu found he could not help but continue to glare after Kira for a moment. The commander did not like killing others anymore than Kira did, but the fact was Kira was not just a civilian anymore, he was a soldier, and that meant that sometimes they would have to kill others in order to ensure he and others survived in a battle. After calming down for a moment though, Mu remembered that Kira was still young, and where Kira came from, so it made sense that what had just happened would rattle him.

After watching Kira go for another minute or so, Mu himself moved to the locker room to change out of his pilot suit as well, the whole time thinking to himself, _Whatever Optimus has to say to the kid, I hope that he has a better time with him than I just did, and that it's the right thing for Kira to hear._

* * *

It was almost an hour later that Kira finally found himself aboard the _Omega II_, decked out in his standard blue and white Earth Forces uniform. As soon as he came through the Ground Bridge, he found Wheeljack there waiting for him, with a sad expression when the Wrecker saw him, something Kira found looked a bit strange on Wheeljack. After a moment, Wheeljack finally told Kira to follow him, and began to lead Kira off to where Optimus was waiting for him.

It was at that moment that the reality finally hit Kira that he was actually aboard the Autobot's ship. While he suspected that the _Archangel_'s captain, Commander La Flaga, and Lieutenant Badgiruel had all been aboard the massive ship at one point or another, this was actually the first time that Kira himself had been here. He took a moment as he was walking to really let it sink in and look around the interior of the massive ship. Even if it was just a hallway, the fact he was actually inside such a massive transport was an amazing fact in and of itself. The hallway alone was massive enough that Kira felt that he would only be able to get anywhere on the ship quickly enough in an emergency if he was in the Strike or another mobile suit, and the doors all seemed just as large. The whole time he moved through the gold colored passage, he could not help but wonder if this was how an ant felt whenever it wandered into a human vehicle of some sort, and at the same time he also could not help but feel that this alone really reinforced the facts behind the Autobots' alien origins. Simply put, Kira felt that the only other time he was even close being this overwhelmed was after his first real battle in the Strike, which was just after the destruction of Heliopolis.

Kira was brought out of his musings when Wheeljack announced to him that they had reached their destination, and motioned for Kira to go on ahead inside. As soon as Kira passed through into the room, with the door immediately shutting behind him, he looked to see Optimus and Bumblebee sitting there waiting for him, and both 'Bots looked very saddened about something. Optimus motioned for Kira to come over, and as soon as he had, Bumblebee gently lifted him up onto the table that was situated between himself and Optimus so that Kira could be closer to their eyelevel.

Kira waited for a moment, wanting to hear what Optimus and Bumblebee had to say, before Optimus finally stated, "I am sorry for what happened in that previous battle Kira."

Now Kira was confused. He was half expecting Optimus to start telling him something similar to what La Flaga had told him just a short while ago on the _Archangel_, not for him to apologize to him for something. Optimus saw Kira's confusion and continued on saying, "I am well aware how you feel about taking the life of another, as you have mentioned it to myself and others many times before, even if only out of a reflexive reaction such as that. I know that it is something that is weighing heavily on your conscious, and both Bumblebee and I wish we could have done more to stop it. However, despite this we cannot change what has happened."

"So I should just act like it didn't happen and just keep on fighting, and actually start trying to kill people," Kira demanded without really meaning to. Before he could apologize for his tone, Optimus raised a hand to say that it was alright.

"I am not saying that you should try to kill anyone, Kira. What I am saying is that if you let the actions or inactions from a past battle affect you too greatly, then it will cost you a great deal." Optimus then paused for a moment to let this sink in before he continued saying, "I understand how you feel my friend, as I too went through the same thing that you are going through at this moment in the early days of the war on Cybertron. I merely wish to tell you these things so that you may avoid making the same mistakes that I and my fellow Autobots have all made in the past in your own battles."

Kira nodded in understanding at this, and he instantly knew that Optimus was right. Even so, that did little to change a number of things about what had previously happened, as he knew for a fact that many actions in his next battle would be a direct result of the previous one. Optimus saw this and gave Bumblebee a small glance, to which the scout replied with a nod, and then got up to return to the bridge.

Bumblebee was about to say something to Kira, but before he could Kira gave the scout a sad, yet grateful smile as he said, "Thank you for what you did back there Bee. Saving that pilot before I accidentally took two lives."

Bumblebee knew that Kira was referring to when the scout saved the pilot of the Blitz from being struck down by the Strike's Anti-Ship sword and nodded in response to Kira's thanks. He then sat there with his friend in silence for another moment before he finally broached the topic that he was about to earlier as he trilled, **_"You know that we may not have to fight the 'Cons or that Z.A.F.T. team before we reach Alaska right?"_**

"I know that there's a chance we won't Bumblebee, but I also know Athrun, or rather the Athrun of today. Those guys will come after us again one more time at least before we reach Alaska, I'm sure of it," Kira answered grimly.

Bumblebee gave Kira a conceding nod at that, acknowledging a fact that he and the other Autobots knew all too well already as well. The main reason the scout told his friend that was just an attempt to try and start a conversation really. **_"Even so, do you think that you'll be ready for a battle like that? The chances of Athrun coming after you in any way other than one of revenge are not very high you know."_**

"I know Bee, and it all reminds me of what he said."

**_"_****_Who?"_**

"Andrew Waltfeld, the desert tiger," Kira replied solemnly. The thought of the now supposedly deceased Z.A.F.T. commander still haunted Kira even though he was not the one who had ended him. "He told me that there are no definitive rules in war so it's nearly impossible to decide who wins and who loses, and then he asked if I thought that the only way to truly win was once all your enemies were destroyed. I wasn't sure what the right answer to that was. Is completely annihilating the enemy the only way for one side to win, or is there another way? If there isn't then does that mean that I'll have to destroy Athrun?"

Bumblebee stared at Kira sadly for a moment, before he let out the best sigh he could managed and whirred, **_"I can't answer that Kira. I don't think anyone really can other than you. I've been fighting in the war between the Autobots and the Decepticons for so long that I doubt any of us can really see a way for the war to end peacefully. Whatever you decide to do though, just know that I'll have your back no matter what. Optimus and I both promised your parents that we would watch out for you and make sure you came back to them alive, and neither one of us intends to break that promise so long as our sparks burn brightly and we can do something to ensure it."_**

Kira smiled at Bumblebee as he thanked Bumblebee for what the scout had said, and a moment later, after just sitting in a comfortable silence, Bumblebee led Kira back to the _Omega II_'s Ground Bridge to allow Kira to return to the _Archangel_. As he entered the green vortex later, Kira found that while he still had a lot to think about concerning the upcoming battle, he felt that he may at least be close to knowing the answer to one of the questions that was plaguing his mind.

* * *

While Kira was not the only who was dealing with issues from the last battle, the issues that the Zala team had with it were much different, and being handled in a much different manner. Athrun, Nicol, and Dearka were all doing their best to keep their emotions of the loss of Jaylen contained as they finished changing out of their pilot suits and back into their regular, red Z.A.F.T. uniforms, but since it had just taken place so recently, the thoughts of said loss were still fresh in their minds. The fact that Yzak was doing a far less better job containing himself than the rest of them was not helping.

"Damn it! Damn it, damn it, damn it, damn it, damn it! DAMN IT," Yzak hollered as he continuously punched the metal locker doors, still having not made any moves to change out of his own pilot suit. Despite the fact that Yzak's reception and regular attitude towards Jaylen was not what most would consider welcoming, the sliver haired pilot would not deny that he cared a great deal about his comrades, especially those who were on the same team as him. There was no doubt in any of the minds of the others that Yzak would likely be reacting the same way if any of them had perished.

Yzak then kicked one of the lockers hard, and was then brought out of his ranting when he saw Jaylen's uniform inside of it. Dearka thought that now was as good a time as any to try and calm his friend down, but he was obviously mistaken as Yzak started rounding his anger on the others, particularly Athrun as he shouted, "Why did she have to die like that?! And why out here?! WELL?!"

At that point, Athrun's self control slipped as well, and he moved to grab Yzak by his collar, when surprisingly Nicol beat him to the punch and hit Yzak in the face as hard as he could. "Why don't you just say it Yzak?! That it was mine and Athrun's fault! She only died because she was trying to save Athrun when I failed to and then let my guard down after getting tackled out of the Strike's way by that Autobot," Nicol shouted, voicing both his and Athrun's thoughts.

It came as an extreme shock to everyone, that Nicol, the most calm, and level headed among them, had actually lost his temper like this, shouted out like he just had, and gone so far as to even punch Yzak. This was a side of Nicol that none of them had ever seen all that often, if ever, and the look of pure anger on the green haired boy's face was scary. Before anything else could happen, Athrun and Dearka moved to hold back Nicol and Yzak respectively before their friends could continue to try and tear the other apart. "Stop it Nicol," Athrun shouted.

"You too Yzak," Dearka reasoned. "Fighting each other isn't gonna help us one bit." That seemed to calm everyone down at least a bit to the point that Dearka and Athrun felt it was safe to release their holds on the other two. Dearka then threw Athrun an apologetic look for what he was about to say next, which Athrun understood after the blonde stated as angrily as he could manage, "Remember the Strike is our real enemy here!"

Dearka really did not want to say that, having met Kira and finding that the young man would not have willingly wanted to kill someone, but he knew it had to be said if he were to get Yzak and Nicol to calm down. It seemed to have the desired effect and then some as Yzak declared, "I know that, obviously. He's the one who killed our friend Miguel, gave me this scar, and now the one who killed Jaylen. Next time we meet, I'll get him."

With that Yzak ran out of the room, with Dearka hot on his tail, the latter of whom shot Athrun another look saying that he would do what he could to calm the silver haired pilot down, to which Athrun gave a small nod. After watching the two go, Nicol felt he could not hold back his tears any longer, and began to let them fall as he slumped down on a nearby chair, and Athrun was about to join him when his gaze fell on Jaylen's uniform. Knowing that they would have to clear out her personal effects eventually, Athrun thought it best if he go ahead and at least move her uniform out of the locker. As he did though, the sound of papers falling caught Athrun's attention.

Nicol heard it as well, and turned to see that when Athrun moved Jaylen's uniform out of the locker, a number of papers and a few pictures had fallen out of the locker. After moving to get a better look at the papers, he saw that they were actually letters that Jaylen wrote to her brother, who was actually in a majority of the pictures that had fallen out as well. "These are all…for Heine…," Nicol stated softly, but not softly enough for Athrun to not hear him. "Some of these say that she was really proud to have been assigned to work with us, and even more go on about how much she missed him and couldn't wait to see him later."

Nicol heard another bang, and thought that Yzak had resumed hitting the walls or something in anger at first until he realized the sound had come from behind him. Nicol turned around and saw that Athrun had been the one to hit the metal lockers with his free hand as he leaned up against them with his head down in anguish as he muttered, "Damn it. It should've been me. I should've been the one to die not her…Jaylen."

Nicol moved to try and comfort Athrun, but found that he did not know what to say, because he blamed himself for Jaylen's death just as much as Athrun did. At least that was what he thought until he heard Athrun continue on saying, "It's all because…I was too weak to kill Kira in the past. It was my weakness that killed you!"

Now Nicol was confused. Who was Kira, what weakness was Athrun talking about, and what did any of that have to do with Jaylen's death? "Athrun," Nicol asked when he found his voice. "What're you talking about?"

Athrun turned around, his own tears still falling from his eyes as he turned to Nicol and stated, "Kira Yamato is the pilot of the Strike, a Coordinator like us, and he was once my friend many years ago."

Nicol was as completely stunned by this revelation as Dearka had been when he found out this fact, but unlike Dearka, he did not start shouting at Athrun as he could see that Athrun was having a hard enough time dealing with all of this. Instead, he simply sat down next to Athrun and asked, "Who else knows about this?"

"Besides you, only my father, Commander Le Creuset, and Dearka know," Athrun told him, but he did not stop there. "When the commander told me that it was the Strike that gave Yzak that scar of his, he asked me if I would shoot it down or be shot down, and I didn't know what my answer was then, but now…"

Nicol placed a hand on Athrun's shoulder and gave a small, teary smile as he said, "I'm sorry that you've been having to go through all of that Athrun, and I know what you must be thinking now, but just so you know, whatever you decide I'll be right there with you, so don't worry. We'll get him."

"No Nicol," Athrun stated. When Nicol looked at Athrun in shock at that outburst, he saw Athrun glance at Jaylen's letters and photos in sadness before his eyes gained a fire of determination and anger unlike anything Nicol had ever seen in Athrun before. "I'll kill him," Athrun swore just loud enough for Nicol to hear. "The next time we meet, I don't care what any of you guys do. This is my responsibility, and I swear I will do what I should've done before, and I will kill him."

What neither of the two boys knew was that Dreadwing had overheard their conversation via the comm. link in Athrun's pocket that had accidentally activated and opened a direct channel to him alone. Once he heard that statement, Dreadwing knew the same thing that Nicol knew right when the piano playing pilot saw the look in Athrun's eyes. Athrun Zala was out for revenge, and even if it meant he would end up killing his best friend, nothing was going to stand in his way.

* * *

The following day, everyone on the _Archangel_ and the _Omega II_ were hoping to cross the Tropic of Cancer by that evening and finally be able to get word from Alaska, but no one was all that optimistic about the idea that they had lost the Decepticon-Z.A.F.T. team that had been pursuing them. Ramius and Badgiruel were both hopeful that they had finally lost said team after the last battle, but when they asked Optimus what he thought, he gave the impression that he knew for a fact that their pursuers were still not far behind them. With that in mind, everyone was preparing themselves for one more confrontation with said team, and this time they were determined to lose them.

On the Vosgulov class submarine that Athrun and the Zala team were aboard, said team and the Decepticons aboard the _Havoc_ were more determined than ever to bring down the Strike, and it seemed they would get their chance soon enough. Sometime close to sunrise, the Z.A.F.T. submarine's radar had located the _Archangel_ and the _Omega II_, and determined that the two ships were heading for a small group of islands, and with sunrise upon them, they had the perfect opportunity to launch a surprise attack. Knowing all this, Athrun immediately ordered his fellow pilots to their machines to prepare for takeoff. The Zala team and Dreadwing's unit swore that this time, today would be the day that they would bring down the Legged Ship and the Autobot vessel, or at the very least ensure that the Strike was destroyed.

* * *

The alert on the _Archangel_'s radar of enemy readings went off almost minutes after the first light of the sun had shown over the horizon, and the _Omega II_'s confirmation came only seconds after. Both ships had instantly gone to red alert and level one battle stations, prompting Optimus and all his Autobots, save for Elita One and Hound, who would remain on the bridge, to quickly grab whatever weapons they could and race out to meet their foes, while Mu La Flaga and Kira raced for the lockers to suit up in their pilot suits and launch as well.

As Kira was heading to grab his pilot suit, a soft voice called out to him, "Kira wait!"

Kira turned and instantly gained an annoyed look when he saw that Flay was the one who had stopped him. That look of annoyance quickly changed to confusion when he saw that Flay truly had a look of genuine sadness and hope on her face as she struggled to say whatever it was she was trying to say. Kira gave her a minute before snapping her back to the reality that he did not have time to chat right now as he told as reassuringly as he could with a small smile, "Sorry Flay, not now, but maybe later okay?"

Flay looked at Kira in surprise, not expecting Kira to have told her that they may talk later. It showed that despite what had happened between them, Kira was still willing to at least give her a chance to patch things up with their friendship at the very least. Flay figured that was really the best she could have hoped for and gave Kira a small nod in understanding before letting him continue on his way to get his pilot suit.

Not long after, the entire _Archangel_ shook from the force of an explosion courtesy of the Buster firing a shot that just barely missed the white ship as it moved hard to port in order to evade. The _Omega II_ was not so lucky in evading their opponents first attack, as Thundercracker and Skywarp both landed a few successful hits with a missile barrage of their own. Before either one of the Seekers had a chance to celebrate their success in hitting the mighty Autobot ship, they were forced back by a volley of energon blasts from Bulkhead, Wheeljack, and Jazz.

Optimus and Bumblebee then moved to try and force the four Z.A.F.T. Gundams to back off from their attack on the _Archangel_ as the Strike moved to the rear deck of said ship, but before they could fire off more than two shots, they found themselves under fire from Dreadwing and Slipstream. "Back off Autobots," Slipstream shouted.

"For once I must agree with Slipstream, Prime," Dreadwing stated as he transformed and brought his sword down in a vertical slash as he landed on the _Omega II_. As Optimus blocked Dreadwing's attack with his left arm blade, Dreadwing finished what he was saying earlier by stating, "This battle is a matter of honor for the Z.A.F.T. pilots, and a chance for them to avenge their fallen comrade. As someone who understands that sort of pain, I cannot allow you or your Autobots to interfere."

"Then I suppose that we will just have to force our way through you," Optimus shouted as he pushed Dreadwing back, and then moved to fire his Ion Blaster at point blank range. Dreadwing knocked the large weapon aside just before it fired, and then swung his sword at Optimus's head. Optimus was quick to duck under the blade before retaliating with an upward slash from his own sword which struck home and caused Dreadwing to stumble for a moment.

Seeing the opening that Optimus had provided, Bumblebee moved to try and assist his commander, when Slipstream used her Hyper Speed ability to run up and slam her fist into the scout in a hard uppercut that knocked the scout back long enough for her to land a kick that sent him further away from the battle between Optimus and Dreadwing. "Sorry Scout," Slipstream mocked. "But you've got other things to worry about."

* * *

Optimus and Bumblebee were not the only ones having problems with the attacking Decepticons, as Bulkhead, Wheeljack, and Jazz found themselves struggling to deal with Breakdown and the Decimators. "I had heard how bad the Decimators were, but with Breakdown rolling in on the action, this whole thing is an entire planet sized helping of worse," Jazz commented as he fired his Scatter Blaster at Barricade in an attempt to get the Decimator leader at least to back off a bit.

"If you think this is bad, you should try dealing with all of those Wrecker wannabes at once," Wheeljack told the Autobot first lieutenant as he fired a few rounds from his Path Blaster at Blackout. Wheeljack knew that it would be ideal to keep that particular Decimator away from the two ships, but unfortunately, every time he was able to cause Blackout to move back, Thundercracker or Airachnid was quick to swoop in and fire a few shots off at him that had him pull back as well.

"Aw what's the matter Autobots? Are we too much for you to handle," Barricade shouted as he swiftly avoided another shot from Jazz on his Decepticon jetpack, which seemed to be more capable than the ones the Autobots were using at the moment. "I guess the big bad Team Prime isn't all it's cracked up to be after all."

"Oh I know he did not just go there," Jazz shouted as he whipped out his default blaster to increase his fire power in his attacks on the irritating 'Con. Before Jazz could fire off that many rounds though, Junkheap touched down in front of him, and slammed a long staff into Jazz's side hard, knocking the smooth talking Autobot across the deck.

Jazz looked up as he struggled to his feet to find that he was right in Airachnid's crosshairs, and braced himself for the worst, when a blast knocked Airachnid away hard enough to cause her to transform and assume robot mode and land on her spider-like appendages. Looking to the source, the two saw Arcee running up and firing multiple rounds at both Airachnid and anything else that she could that happened to have a Decepticon symbol on it. "Nice shootin' girl," Jazz thanked as Arcee ran past him.

"You can thank me later," Arcee told him as she rolled to the side to avoid an attack from Thundercracker. "For right now, less talking, more shooting!"

"Or you could both just hold still and let me end your existence for good," Skywarp called out as he and Thundercracker attacked the two together in a synchronous movement that only true siblings could accomplish. Bulkhead was quick to come to the rescue of his two comrades as he took the brunt of the Seekers' attack and allowed Arcee and Jazz to use him as a springboard and jump up retaliate with their own attacks.

"You okay there Bulk," Jazz asked after he landed and took cover behind some raised flaps on the deck.

"Yeah, it just grazed me," Bulkhead replied. The Autobots were all soon rattled by an explosion a moment later from both their ship and the _Archangel_. "Hound what just happened," Bulkhead shouted into his comm. link as he too took cover as best he could.

_"__The _Archangel_ just took a serious hit from a combined attack from the Buster and the Blitz after the Aegis provided the perfect set-up for them. La Flaga's doing all he can to drive the two back, and Kira has already knocked the Duel out of action, but even so at the rate things are going, the ship will have to make an emergency landing,"_ Hound replied as he fired on the Decepticons with some of the _Omega II_'s cannons.

_"__They're not the only ones,"_ Elita then continued. _"The _Omega II_'s taking some serious punishment as well. It may not be as bad as the _Archangel_ but if things keep up we may have to make an emergency landing as well."_

_"__Understood,"_ Optimus called from where he was, still engaged in battle with Dreadwing. _"Elita prepare to bring the _Omega II_ in close to the _Archangel_. Once the ship goes down give them the best covering fire you can as you land the ship. Direct all unnecessary power to the shields as soon as you do."_

"Prime, not to question your orders, but if we do that we'll be sitting ducks as well," Jazz argued as he fired on Blackout and Airachnid, who had managed to get back into the air after catching Wheeljack in her webbing for a moment.

"Better to bring the ship down under our own power than have Blackout bring it down for us to a point where we won't be able to help the _Archangel_ at all," Wheeljack argued as he slashed the webs on his foot apart with one of his swords.

_"…__Understood,"_ Elita finally answered. The Autobots knew they could trust Optimus's judgment when it came to his orders on the battlefield, but they still could not help the uneasiness that was quickly overcoming them about this battle. Even so, they would not allow themselves nor the _Archangel_ to be brought down so easily after all they had been through since arriving on Earth, and they were determined to show the 'Cons just that as they charged into the battle again while the two ships descended towards a nearby island.

* * *

"I'm not sure how much longer I can maintain a stable lift," Neumann shouted from his station at the helm.

"It's imperative that you stabilize us," Murrue shouted.

"Use the backup Levitator if you have to," Natarle ordered.

At that point, Tolle decided he could no longer just sit by and do nothing, so he rose from his chair and stated, "I'm taking the Sky Grasper out! We're in trouble unless we do something!"

"No Crewman Koenig, hold it," Murrue tried to protest, but found herself cut off when the ship was hit by enemy fire once again. She did nothing more to stop him after that, and instead decided to focus all her attention on the battle they were facing.

Not a moment after they had received confirmation that Tolle had launched Sky Grasper two, Neumann shouted, "I can't keep her stable any longer!"

"Emergency landing! All hands, brace for impact," Captain Ramius ordered.

"Buster and Blitz at two o' clock," Sai warned.

"Aim the Gottfrieds and Valiant," Badgiruel ordered, already thinking a few steps ahead for when the ship hit the ground. Not a moment later, the _Archangel_ had completed an emergency landing on the nearby landing, and thankfully no one on board the ship was hurt. Unfortunately, the fact that the ship was rendered immobile did not go unnoticed by Dearka and Nicol.

"We've got 'em now," Nicol shouted.

"Yeah, they're nothing more than a sitting duck," Dearka agreed with a grin as he readied the Buster's rifles. Before either of them could fire on the _Archangel_ though, they were attacked by a beam blast themselves. They looked to see Mu flying in with his Sky Grasper's guns blazing. Dearka quickly retaliated and landed a successful hit that knocked the Hawk of Endymion out of the air, but not before he himself was hit hard enough to send the Buster to the ground as well.

"Dearka," Nicol called out, but before he could do anymore, he too was hit hard by an attack from behind. Spinning the Blitz around, Nicol saw that the _Omega II_ was close by and firing on him. Nicol did his best to retaliate, but unfortunately, his efforts were in vain, and ended up causing Slipstream to be knocked out of the fight instead, just before he ended up crashing down next to the Blitz.

"Nicol are you okay," Dearka shouted as he tried to get the Buster to move.

"Yeah I'm alright, but the Blitz isn't. Nearly everything is completely shot," Nicol responded. "What about you?"

"Same story," Dearka growled. A second later, their warning sensors alerted them to the fact that the _Archangel_ had its guns trained on the both of them. Dearka growled and simply did the only thing he could think of, an action the Nicol quickly mirrored. The two of them both opened their cockpits, and climbed out with their hands up.

Everyone on the _Archangel_ was completely shocked at this, and Natarle ended up being the one to ask the question everyone was thinking. "Are they surrendering?"

An explosion from the _Omega II_ quickly brought everyone out of their stupor, as Sai shouted out, "The Autobots are barely holding their own! The 'Cons have them all but pinned down!"

"What's Optimus's status," Natarle inquired.

"He's locked in combat with Dreadwing along with Bumblebee. It doesn't seem like the guy's giving him much room to move and assist his own forces let alone us."

Murrue and Natarle shared a quick glance and knew that they were both hoping the same thing. That Optimus and the Autobots would be alright.

* * *

Bumblebee was quick to move to help Optimus with Dreadwing after Slipstream was shot down accidentally by the Blitz, and the scout was doing everything he could to back his commander up when he noticed the _Archangel_ went down. Another glance showed him and Optimus that Mu's Sky Grasper had been taken out as well, and one other thing that had them both extremely worried. There was no sign of the Strike or the Aegis. "Elita, _Archangel_! Do either of you have the Strike's current location," Optimus requested as he parried a sword strike from Dreadwing that allowed Bumblebee to land a right hook to Dreadwing's face.

_"__Yes Optimus,"_ Miriallia replied. _"The Strike is currently engaged with the Aegis a little ways ahead of the _Archangel_."_

Optimus's worries were immediately intensified when he heard that. He then discarded his Ion Blaster and pulled out his Energon Battle Axe to meet Dreadwing's sword as he ordered, "Bumblebee move to Kira's location at once! I shall handle Dreadwing!"

**_"_****_Are you sure,"_** Bumblebee buzzed in concern as he dodged a blast from Thundercracker.

"I am. Kira needs you more than we do right now. That is an order!" Optimus was now all but shouting at the scout, and Bumblebee could hear just how worried Optimus was from the sound of his voice, but there was also something Bumblebee almost never heard in Optimus voice as well.

Desperation.

Bumblebee nodded in reply to say that he understood, and then after shooting a few rounds from his default blaster at the Thundercracker to drive him back, the scout began to run in the direction that Miriallia had just indicated. This did not go unnoticed by Dreadwing however, and the 'Con pushed Optimus back so that he could try to draw a bead on the retreating scout, only to have to block a swing from Optimus's axe that would have cut him in half as Optimus shouted, "Your battle is with me alone Dreadwing!"

As soon as Bumblebee's feet hit the ground, he headed off with a running start and transformed into vehicle mode to race towards where he hoped the Strike would still be when he arrived at said location. Though his wheels slipped and slid a bit in the now muddy ground, Bumblebee would not let that stop him as he kept thinking _Just hang on Kira. I'm coming. I just hope that I'm not too late._

* * *

Lightning crashed across the sky, and thunder split the air, as the Aegis and the Strike traded blows in a fierce battle that none should ever have to endure. Two childhood friends were clashing against each other in a battle to destroy the other. One out of revenge for his fallen comrade and friend that he swore to avenge, and the other in an attempt to protect those he cared about and in only an attempt to just stop his old friend. An outside observer would look upon this battle, and think that the two were fierce enemies from day one, and in Athrun's mind, enemies was exactly what he and Kira were at that moment.

"How could you do it Kira? How could you murder Jaylen," Athrun shouted in anger as he fired the Aegis's Scylla Cannon at the one he once considered a friend.

Kira had no retort for that as he evaded the beam just by the skin of the Strike's teeth. Before he could retaliate though, he heard someone shout out to him, and saw a Sky Grasper flying up and firing on the Aegis a moment later. "Tolle no, stay back," Kira shouted out to his friend that had come to try and help.

What happened next seemed to cause all time to either slow down or completely stop, as the Aegis leapt into the air to avoid the missile barrage that Tolle launched, and then gave its shield a hard toss towards its attacker. The last thing that Tolle saw was that bright, red shield spinning towards him just before it struck his cockpit and ended his life as his friend cried out his name in anguish.

The next moment, Kira felt a massive anger overcome him, and a familiar sensation of something within him bursting to life, and he charged the Strike toward the Aegis, now seeing only red, and he was not referring to the color of his opponent's mobile suit. "You'll pay for that Athrun," Kira shouted in anger as his tears at the loss of his friend began to roll down his face.

In his attack, Kira severed one of the arms of Aegis with a swift blow from his beam saber, and then knocked the mobile suit back with a powerful kick. Athrun was only disoriented by this for a moment and was quick to take to the air to regain his balance. Athrun then answered his Kira's cries of anguish with his own as he shouted, "I'm gonna kill you!"

The next thing that Athrun knew, something inside of him also seemed to burst and release a great amount of power as it did. The battle between the two had gone from a battle in a war, to a duel between friends who had become enemies, and was now an all out brawl in which only one would survive. The Aegis was able to return the favor of the Strike severing its arm, by slicing off the arm that held the Strike's shield, only to have its head slashed off a second later. Soon after, the Aegis had slashed open the Strike's cockpit, and gave Athrun an opening to end this once and for all.

"Athrun," Kira cried out as he charged.

"Kira," Athrun shouted in response as he changed the Aegis to its mobile armor mode and grabbed the Strike in its powerful grasp, and this time Athrun was not going to push it back or drag it off with him. This time he prepared to fire the Scylla Cannon at point blank range, right into Kira's cockpit, but before he could the Aegis lost what power it had left and powered down its Phase Shift armor.

Seeing the Strike beginning to fight back and get free, Athrun saw only one option left to him for victory, and opened a panel to type in the code necessary to carry that action out. As soon as he finished, the computer screen on his console displayed a running countdown, and Athrun then immediately ejected himself from his mobile suit, the whole time thinking to himself, _It's over Kira. I've won. Say hi to your comrade when you see them in the next life._

Kira saw Athrun eject and immediately knew what was about to happen, but there was no time for him to do anything now. A moment later, there was a flash from the Aegis, and the once red mobile suit instantly self-destructed in a massive explosion, taking the captive Strike with it.

* * *

She could not think of what to say, nor could she believe what her readouts were showing her. As Miriallia looked at her screen after hearing a loud explosion that seemed to shake the entire island, all she could hear from the lines to both Tolle's Sky Grasper and the Strike was a constant, never-ending beep that soon became nothing more than silence, while the screen itself read only one thing about both of the machines her friend and the man she loved were in. The signal had been lost.

* * *

A massive explosion could be heard all across the small island, as the skies were lit up with the blaze that followed as a result. As Bumblebee sped along towards where Kira showed have been, he was instantly brought to a hard stop as soon as he heard the explosion, and saw the resulting blaze. As soon as he had stopped and assumed robot mode, he had the terrible confirmation that his optics were not malfunctioning, as the explosion had come from the exact same place that his friend was said to be at.

The sight was not just seen by Bumblebee though, as the sound of the explosion had brought the battling Autobots and Decepticons to a halt as they looked off in the direction of the source, fear etched on the faces of every Autobot there, while Dreadwing had a small look of pride on his own as he thought, _Well done Athrun. You've fulfilled your promise to your comrade._

Optimus could only look on in horror as he gave a silent gasp of his own disbelief, barely registering the fact that Dreadwing had ordered his unit to fall back saying that they had accomplished their goals for the moment. As he did, he and every other Autobot present found that somehow, they could all here the cries of anguish that came in an all too familiar whir that simply shouted, **_"KIRA!"_**

* * *

A little ways off from where the explosion had happened, a man by the name of Reverend Malchio had seen the battle from his cottage home and saw that from the explosion, a young man had landed near his garden. As he hurried over to inspect the person, he found that it was a young boy with dark hair wearing a blue and white pilot suit. After checking him for a pulse, Malchio knew that he had to get this person medical treatment, and there was only one place he could think of to bring him. Malchio then turned to look behind him as a massive shadow fell over him and stated, "Do you think you can get this boy to the PLANTs without your supposed 'captors' noticing?"

The figure that stood behind him was mostly shadowed but one could tell that it was another Cybertronian due to the fact that he was as large, if not larger, than a mobile suit, had a pair of wings extending from his back, and was intelligent enough to state in a British accent, "It should be no problem at all lad. Those old clankers haven't noticed me being able to slip out yet, and I can assure you that they won't catch this old bloke of a Bot doing so today."

A moment later, unknown to anyone but Malchio, a large, red and white jet had rocketed into the air with the injured man aboard. His destination, the home of the former PLANT Supreme Chairman.

* * *

**_AN: Okay, in case that stuff at the end wasn't obvious enough, then I'm gonna say that your a major idiot for not recognize who that pilot was._**

**_Wheeljack: What about the Transformer that transported said pilot to the PLANTs? I'm assuming that he's probably an Autobot, but who was he?_**

**_AN: Well you'll just have to wait and see to find out. For those of you who can figure it out though, please don't say anything in the reviews and spoil it for everyone._**

**_Wheeljack: Still that battle between Athrun and Kira was something else, just like in the anime, but how come we weren't able to do anything?_**

**_AN: Well I wanted that battle to go as unchanged as possible due to how epic it was and what happened during and afterwards, so naturally I had to set things up so that Dreadwing had the 'Cons fighting the Autobots so fiercely that they couldn't move to help Kira or the _Archangel_ and so that by the time anyone could try to help, it would've already been too late. That being said, I really hope that I did that battle between Athrun and Kira justice, because as I was writing it, and even now after I've written it, I can't help but feel that it could've been written at least a little better. It might be just me, but still..._**

**_Wheeljack: Yeah I getcha. Anyways, onto the preview!_**

**_AN: Hey! That's my line!..._**

**_A great friend and powerful warrior seems to have fallen, and the crew of both the _****Archangel****_ and the _****Omega II****_ are finding themselves thrown into great sadness and grief. Though they cannot allow themselves to grieve for long, as the _****Archangel****_'s commanding officers must meet with the Earth Forces Commanders along with Optimus, Jazz, and Elita for a formal inquiry of the actions of the two ships, which will leave a bad taste in all their mouths, and lead Optimus to wonder just how much of the Earth's population is like the Decepticons in the way of deceit, betrayal, harshness, and brutality in all things possible. Confrontations and revelations await many on Earth, both on and off of the _****Archangel****_ and among both friend and foe, and a familiar face awakens in the care of Lacus Clyne, wondering why. Next time on Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Prime…_****Chapter 21: Grieving and Suspicions****_. Fight through the grieving skies as the Autobots begin to fight for the truth Gundam!_**

**_Please read and review, and I'll see you guys next time!_**


	21. 21: Grieving and Suspicions

**_AN: Wow you would not believe how long it feels like it took to write this chapter, and as I was writing I felt like I could cry myself at a few points because the episodes this took place during are just so sad at some points._**

**_Ironhide: Huh, what a wuss._**

**_AN: Oh so just cause I'm a little sentimental I'm suddenly a wuss? Yeah sure, don't think I didn't see how you were bawling at the end of Toy Story 3, Hide._**

**_Ironhide: Sh-shut up! Th-that was Bumblebee and Arcee, and besides it's a real touching moment and..._**

**_AN: Mmmhmmmm. Sure Ironhide._**

**_Ironhide: Tch, whatever. Don't you have some reviews to answer? Like this one from "Czar Joseph"?_**

**_AN: I was getting to that. Anyways, to answer your question from last chapter about who that Bot who helped save Kira was, well you'll find out very soon so, sorry but no spoilers._**

**_Ironhide: Alright, how about this one from "AXL999"?_**

**_AN: Ah the one about the Junk Guild guy. I'm sorry to say that no he will not be appearing in this. As I've stated before, I only know of the events as they happened in the anime, granted I have read some of the things on the wikipedia, but when it comes to this story, I'm going with the Gundam SEED anime as my main source. Sorry if that disappoints you though._**

**_Ironhide: And finally one from Lone Gundam who elaborated on his last question._**

**_AN: Well I can honestly say that having the Freedom and the Justice made from Cybertronian alloys was not something I thought of, but thanks for the idea, and as for anything beyond that, we'll that'll be a surprise for when the Freedom finally appears on the battlefield, but just so we're clear, Shockwave will have had nothing to do with either one. He is not in this story, and more than likely will not appear until we get to the SEED Destiny arc in the sequel. Is there anything else Ironhide?_**

**_Ironhide: Uh, nope I think that covers it._**

**_AN: Alright then, showtime. I do not own anything from any of the Gundam or Transformers franchises or any other franchise that is mentioned in this story._**

* * *

**Chapter 21: Grieving and Suspicions**

They had all heard the explosion, and they all understood what the loss of contact with the Strike and Sky Grasper Two meant, but despite that fact, no one on the _Archangel_'s bridge could help but hope that Miriallia's cries into the communicator for Kira and Tolle would be answered. Though after she had called so many times with no response, they found that those hopes were beginning to dwindle. It did not help that Ramius had to tell La Flaga of the fact that contact had been lost with those two, which only drove them all to further doubt that there was any hope the two boys were alright.

Finally, after seeing that Miriallia was now just calling out in desperation, Natarle walked over to Miriallia's console and shut off the communication line and sadly told her, "There's no point."

_"__Optimus to _Archangel_,"_ the Autobot commander then called, getting everyone's attention. _"What is your status?"_

Murrue quickly snapped out of her temporary trance as she checked with Murdoch and then relayed to Optimus, "Chief Murdoch says that we should be able to fly once he and his crew are done with force blanket repairs. Any other damage we received was not too severe. Also, we have captured the pilots of the Buster and the Blitz as well, and some of the crew is escorting them to the brig." Ramius then paused for a moment to gather herself before continuing, "You should also know that we've lost contact with both the Strike and Sky Grasper Two. Are you able to reach either of them?"

No one could ignore the silence that came with the brief pause in the two commanders' conversation before Optimus finally replied, _"I am sorry Captain Ramius, but the _Omega II_ is not having any better luck reaching them than you are."_

_"__Optimus, _Archangel,_ this is Hound on the _Omega II_! Our sensors just detected approaching enemy signals. Three DINNs and a small squadron of Decepticon vehicons all approaching fast,"_ Hound called out, cutting into the conversation.

"Prepare to intercept," Ramius ordered.

"Not possible," Natarle reported. "Over half of our weapons are out of commission. We won't last ten minutes against those DINNs like this!"

_"__The same can be said for the _Omega II_ when in reference to that fleet of flyers,"_ Elita reported. _"She'll be able to get us out of here, but I'm not sure whether or not it'll be able to handle another fight so soon."_

Miriallia then started trying to reach Kira once again, only to have Natarle shut off the line once more, starting to get annoyed with the girl, as she told her, "Will you stop that?! It's obvious that Ensign Yamato and Crewman Koenig are both MIA. Understand?"

Miriallia went into total shock, as everything seemed to blur around her. She knew that Lieutenant Badgiruel was right, but the fact did not register with her as her shock and quickly rising despair began to cloud her mind. No one even bothered to stop her as she ran from the bridge. The minute that Miriallia had ran out the door, Newmann reported that their power had been restored.

"We're taking off at once. Maximum thrust," Ramius ordered. The minute she gave the order, the _Archangel_ was lifting off of the ground into the air, with the _Omega II_ close behind them. The latter with a very sad and depressed scout on its upper deck continuing to sadly gaze in the direction that the explosion that may or may not have claimed the life of his friend had come from.

"Tell me the last known location of Sky Grasper Two and the Strike," Murrue then asked.

"A small island at seven o' clock Captain," a crewman reported.

"We can't possibly go back there in this condition," Natarle protested.

"Commander, the Sky Grasper," Murrue then asked Mu.

_"__Negative,"_ Mu replied. _"It still needs work."_

"Captain, they'll destroy us if we don't leave at once," Natarle warned.

"But what if…what if Tolle and Kira did somehow manage to escape," Sai asked. Natarle had to admit that she did not have an answer for that, and she understood that everyone wanted to know if there was a chance the two were still alive, but the risks to the ship and crew were just too great even with the Autobots' help, a fact that Elita One herself had stated just moments ago.

"Keep trying to reach Alaska, and send out an S.O.S. signal along with the coordinates of this island to Orb," Ramius then ordered as she clenched her fist.

"To Orb," Natarle asked, unsure why her captain would request that they call the neutral nation for help.

"Orb will accept. We're asking them to save lives," Ramius stated.

Before Natarle could protest or Ramius could say that she would take full responsibility, Optimus's voice cut in saying, _"There is no need for any of that _Archangel_. I have already asked Jazz to contact Ratchet in Orb to request that he relay the S.O.S. himself."_

Murrue and Natarle both gave a nod of gratitude and consent at that, and then decided to push the ship onward to Alaska. Throughout the two ships, anyone who was not busy doing something was silently grieving in their own way. Bumblebee had wanted to go over to the _Archangel_ so he could try and at least help Miriallia through her pain, but found himself unable to know what to say, not that it would have really mattered anyways, as the only person on the _Archangel_ that would've been able to understand him was now gone. As for Miriallia herself, she eventually collapsed onto the floor sobbing next to the flight simulator that Tolle had spent so much time in recently with Mu right there unable to say or do anything more than curse out loud as he slammed a fist into a nearby wall.

* * *

A few hours after the _Archangel_ and _Omega II_ had left, an Orb rescue unit lead by Kisaka and Cagalli had arrived on the island that the two ships had specified, with Ratchet joining them a moment later to try and do what he could to help. Once everyone was ashore though, it was obvious that no one would need to do any kind of scan to tell what had happened, not even Ratchet. The beach was littered with parts of the Aegis scattered about, showing that any hopes of repairing the red machine was not possible, and lying on its back just a short ways away, was the damaged, grey remains of the Strike.

"Oh no," Cagalli whispered as soon as she saw the wreckage of the two machines. Despite the fact that the Strike was in better shape than the Aegis, it was still obvious that it was hit extremely hard. Ratchet had commenced with as many scans as he could in hopes of finding anything that would indicate that Kira was still alive somewhere nearby, but he was not able to ignore the foreboding feeling that welling up in his chest.

Cagalli was walking in a daze at first, and then a short run as she climbed up to the Strike's cockpit, only to gasp in shock at the damaged state it was in. "Kira," Cagalli whispered. Then she realized there was one thing that was wrong. "He's not here."

"What," Kisaka and Ratchet both asked.

"The cockpit's empty. He must've been thrown somewhere…no maybe he ejected in time." Cagalli began to glance around desperately as she stated these facts, not registering the fact that Ratchet had increased his scans quickly as soon as he heard her say that there was no one in the Strike.

A shocked gasp from the medical Autobot drew Cagalli and Kisaka's attention at once as Ratchet exclaimed, "I'm getting a faint human life sign from close by."

"Colonel Kisaka, over here," someone then called out. Thinking it might be Kira, Cagalli raced over and pushed through the crowd that had gathered, only to find the familiar visage of the boy that she had met on an island a short time ago. Athrun Zala.

Seeing the young man, Ratchet immediately kneeled down and ran a scan of him before reporting, "He's alive, but he is seriously injured. We need to get him medical attention at once."

Cagalli looked at Ratchet in surprise at how quickly the medic was to ignore the fact that this person was a Z.A.F.T. soldier, one of the guys who had been helping the Decepticons, before Ratchet snapped everyone back to their senses saying, "What are you people doing? Help me here! I've only done work with human technology not medicine and biology, so there's nothing I can do for him other than transport him to a hospital if necessary."

That got everyone moving, and soon enough Athrun was being brought aboard the rescue ship that Cagalli and the rest of the Orb rescue team had come in.

* * *

A light amount of small from the setting sun coming through a nearby window was what had awakened Athrun a few hours later. As he glanced around, he noticed that there was a small amount of pain in his left arm, which led him to see that it was wrapped in a bandage with a sling. After struggling to sit up, Athrun paused when he heard a familiar, female voice state in a neutral, yet still angry tone, "I see you're awake."

Athrun looked up to see Cagalli approach him with a scowl on her face, and a gun pointed at him. "At the moment your aboard an Orb aircraft," Cagalli informed him, continuing from where she left off. "We decided to take you in after we found you lying on a beach."

"Orb," Athrun wondered aloud. "What does a neutral nation like Orb want with me? Or am I in the hands of the Earth Forces now?"

Cagalli just glared at him as she leveled her gun in response. After letting Athrun remove the IV in his arm, Cagalli asked the question that she needed answered. "There's something I have to know. Are you the one who destroyed the Strike?"

That was when Athrun's smirk vanished from his face, as he quickly recalled everything that happened before he lost consciousness. "It was me," Athrun confirmed.

"What happened to the pilot? Did he escape like you did, eject, or…," Cagalli demanded, finding herself unable to say what the other explanation might be. "We couldn't find Kira anywhere," she then elaborated after Athrun did not respond. After more silence, Cagalli grew more and more anxious and demanded, "Say something!"

Athrun then hung his head so that his bangs hid his eyes and replied with a small, yet sad smile, "He's dead…because I killed him."

Cagalli's eyes went wide with shock at this, and before she could move or say anything Athrun continued, almost as if he was in a trance saying, "It's true. I did it. I had trapped the Strike with my Aegis and blew up. I don't see how he could've escaped."

Cagalli's hand shook as she rushed up and grabbed Athrun by the front of his shirt and pointed her gun at his head, but still Athrun continued, "That was the only option I had left to finish him."

Then Cagalli got a good look at Athrun's eyes, and saw that tears were starting to form. Unable to comprehend why Athrun was crying and deal with the sudden realization that Kira was dead, Cagalli just slammed Athrun down on his bed again and aimed her gun again, only to find herself unable to shoot for some reason. Finally, Cagalli got up and slammed her fist into the wall as she began to let her own tears fall.

As Cagalli cried, Athrun sat up again and moaned, "But why…am I still alive?" He then glanced at his bandaged arm as he continued, "I guess it's because I got out in time." He then turned to see Cagalli had spun around to level her gun at him once more, and he gave a grim smile as he stated, "Or maybe, you're destined to finish me."

Cagalli could hardly believe the crap this guy was saying, and suddenly found herself ranting for apparent reason, "Kira took too many risks, didn't always know what he was doing, and always cried, but he was kind. He was a nice guy!"

Athrun then looked away and gave a small smile with a statement that shocked Cagalli to her core. "Yeah I know. Sounds like Kira really hasn't changed a bit. I had a feeling after I met him in that cave a while back, but I didn't figure it would be this accurate an assumption. He was always like that."

"Did you…," Cagalli asked tentatively as she lowered the gun.

"He was a sentimental cry baby, and he was smart but he never thought things through."

"Did you really know Kira?"

Athrun felt his sad smile getting more and more sad by the minute as he revealed the truth to Cagalli. "Yes we were close. Ever since the days when we were kids. We were the best of friends."

"But then…," Cagalli stuttered, and suddenly she found herself getting angry with Athrun all over again. She then marched over and grabbed Athrun by the front of his shirt again as she shouted, "That's crazy! If you were such a good friend then why the hell would you kill him?!"

Athrun was silent for a moment, before he turned away as best he could in sadness and shame while crying out, "I don't know. I don't know why either okay?! We separated as friends, and the next time I saw him we were enemies. I asked him to come with us over and over, because he was a Coordinator! Can't you see, he was one of us that's where he belonged! It wasn't right for him to be on the side of the Earth Forces!"

Cagalli just stared in shock, unable to comprehend whatever logic Athrun felt he had as he ranted and cried, unable to say anything at all as he continued, "But whenever we talked he wouldn't listen! He fought against us, even hurting friends of mine, and then he killed Jaylen!"

"And so…that's why you killed Kira," Cagalli finally asked. "You're friend?"

"He was an enemy! He wasn't on my side anymore! I had no other choice but to kill him," Athrun argued.

"You idiot," Cagalli shouted. "How could you ever come up with something so stupid? How could you end up doing something so terrible?!"

"He killed Jaylen right in front of both mine and Nicol's eyes! Jaylen was fifteen, she would always talk about how honored she was to be assigned to our team, she was easy to talk to and get along with, and she had a brother she loved so much! She only fought to protect the PLANTs and Kira killed her along with those damn Autobot friends of his!"

Cagalli had heard enough and immediately retorted, "The reason Kira fought was to protect other people to, and the same goes for Bumblebee, Arcee, Optimus, and all the other Autobots as well, but that doesn't explain why Kira had to be killed, and at the hands of his best friend of all people, while his newest best friends had to watch as it happened!"

That was the nail that hit the final mark for Athrun, and the young, injured Z.A.F.T. pilot could do nothing more than start sobbing uncontrollably. Cagalli was not about to let him off with that though, and asked him, "Someone's killed for killing another, and then that guy is killed for killing him. How is that kind of twisted thinking ever going to bring any of us peace? Well?!"

At that point, neither one of them could hold back their tears anymore, and they both just sat there sobbing at the loss of their shared friend, and at everything that had happened. Neither one of them knew that a certain old, Autobot field medic had been listening in from the outside as he watched the Orb crews load the damaged Strike onto the plane, and Ratchet found that he too, did not have an answer for Cagalli's question. Ratchet then found himself wondering what that meant for how the war between the Autobots and Decepticons would finally end.

* * *

It was early sunrise, by the time that Athrun found himself getting a check-up from none other than Ratchet himself. Though it had to be done in the hangar bay, the fact that an Autobot was looking after his well being was far more surprising to Athrun than anything else. After such an extended amount of silence though, Ratchet finally spoke up saying, "Be thankful that I'm doing this for you boy. If I were any of the other Autobots there's little doubt in my mind that they would rather flatten you like a bug for what you have done."

Athrun nodded in consent at that, knowing that Ratchet was probably right, and then found himself asking, "Um…do you know if any of the other Autobots were…close to Kira?"

Ratchet paused in his work for a moment to look at the man he was examining, as best he could, before he sighed and stated, "Yes, and before you ask, I'd say that the Autobots that were closest to Kira were Bumblebee, Optimus, and Jazz. Though the fact that Jazz was close to him comes as no surprise."

Athrun then gave Ratchet a questioning glance that Ratchet understood to mean that he wanted to know a bit more about at least two of the Autobots the medic had mentioned. "You probably remember Bumblebee since he was the one you encountered when your race first found themselves in the midst of a battle between Autobot and Decepticon. He is the one that fought Dreadwing, and by far our bravest soldier. I should know, I was the one who had to save his life when we rescued him from Megatron's clutches after the Decepticon leader had left him for scrap and destroyed his voice box."

Athrun gasped in shock at this. Granted, he knew that Megatron was ruthless and seemed like the kind of person who would do such a thing, but he never would have imagined that the Decepticon leader had actually done such a horrible thing. "I still find it amazing to this day that Bumblebee is still so hopeful and willing to fight," Ratchet continued. "And then there's Optimus Prime, leader of all the Autobots. I believe he was able to establish a connection with your friend Kira because he could understand the struggles he was going through." At Athrun's questioning glance, Ratchet raised an eyebrow and asked, "You didn't know that Optimus and Megatron were once close?"

"No I didn't," Athrun replied in surprise. "I mean I knew that they have been enemies for a long time now, but were they really friends once?"

"Yes. It was many cycles ago, back before the war began, and long before Optimus was named the last Prime. He and Megatron were like brothers in those days, but soon Megatron's true ideals were changed, and when Optimus showed that he did not share those ideals, Megatron felt that he had been betrayed, and the two have been enemies since. I suspect that Optimus saw that similar circumstances surrounded you and Kira, and had hoped things would have turned out differently."

Athrun nodded in consent at that, and did his best to hold back his tears that threatened to come forth once more. He could not deny that he too, wished things between him and Kira had gone differently, and Cagalli's words seemed to echo in his mind constantly now. A small glance showed him that said blonde, who had been acting as his guard since he woke up, was hanging her head in sadness as well, and he instantly looked away.

"Ratchet, Cagalli," Kisaka then called getting the attention of the three. "His escort has arrived."

Cagalli then walked over and gave Athrun a small pat on the shoulder as she told him, "Come on Athrun. They're here for you."

At Athrun's questioning glance, Cagalli elaborated, "We're not allowed to bring any Z.A.F.T. soldiers into Orb territory." She then helped him to his feet as she asked, "Are you going to be alright?"

Athrun gave a small grateful smile as he told her, "Probably. You're one strange person you know that?" At Cagalli's silence and sad look, Athrun added, "I guess you deserve a thank you at least, but right now I don't know."

Athrun then moved to leave when he was suddenly stopped by a shout of, "Nyah-ah-ah-ah! You just make sure you don't strain yourself too much. I don't care how much more quickly Coordinators heal than Naturals, you don't want to cause yourself more pain by pushing your body to do something it isn't ready for too soon."

"I'll keep that in mind, and thank you…Ratchet," Athrun told the medic. He then turned to leave once more, but then was stopped when Cagalli called out to him. As soon as he had turned back, Cagalli placed a small necklace with a jewel around his neck.

"It's a Haumea amulet," Cagalli explained at Athrun's confused look. "You have a thing for getting into trouble, so it'll protect you."

"Even after what I did to Kira," Athrun asked.

Cagalli felt herself start to tear up again as she softly said, "I just don't want anyone else to die."

Athrun nodded in acceptance and then left to meet up with his escort, which Yzak turned out to be a part of. As Cagalli and Ratchet watched him go, they both wondered what fate would await him in the future when Athrun returned to Z.A.F.T.

* * *

Later that same day with the _Archangel_ and _Omega II_, the two ships had arrived at the JOSH-A base in Alaska, though the reception that they received was not what one would call welcoming, especially in the case of the Autobots. Jazz insisted that he saw a few of the guys who welcomed them snarl and outright glare at them more than once, but all the same Optimus was willing to overlook any sort of rude behavior from their hosts for the moment, seemingly optimistic about how their attitude towards the Cybertronians might change for the better eventually.

During that time, Dearka and Nicol had been brought to the _Archangel_'s infirmary when it was realized that the both of them were injured, and along the way, the spotted Sai guiding Miriallia to the Mess Hall to get something to eat. Dearka and Miriallia both instantly recognized each other, but neither one of them said anything, leaving their respective friends thoroughly confused. Needless to say though, Miriallia had not been getting any better after the news of Tolle's possible demise, and she was not showing any signs of improvement anytime soon, which led Sai to bring her to the infirmary to get her something to at least help the poor girl get some sleep.

Unfortunately, Sai had to leave Miriallia there while he went to find the doctor, and it was at the same time that Dearka and Nicol were still there. Upon laying eyes and Dearka, Miriallia immediately freaked out and jumped away from both him and Nicol who was lying in the bed opposite of him. "Sheesh, you're a lot more jumpy than you were back then," Dearka remarked. When he received no reply, he just raised an eyebrow and asked, "Why are you staring at us like that? I get Nicol, but why me? You've got nothing to be afraid of in either one of our cases after all."

Miriallia just continued to stare at Dearka in shock and fear, and Dearka could tell he was not making things any better, so he managed the best comforting smile he could as he stated, "Relax will you? Neither one of us could be anymore tied up." To prove his point, he sat up and showed his tied hands to her before he continued, "But what I seriously want to know is why are you crying like that? I'm actually kinda surprised that a ship like this has such a crybaby on board."

"Uh Dearka," Nicol warned, seeing that last comment did not seem to help him at all.

"I knew you didn't have any business being a soldier back when we met down in that cave, and this just proves my point," Dearka continued, oblivious to Nicol's warning.

"Seriously Dearka," Nicol warned when he saw Miriallia glance to the side.

"Or…maybe your little Natural boyfriend went and died on you or some-," Dearka tried to continue.

"DEARKA WATCH OUT," Nicol suddenly shouted. Dearka did not ignore Nicol that time and immediately moved, just narrowly avoiding the knife that stabbed the pillow where his head just was, which was held by a completely enraged Miriallia.

"Hey what's wrong with you now? Seriously," Dearka asked. Miriallia just glared at him as she panted heavily and then lunged at Dearka again with the knife. Dearka was able to avoid it again as the two both fell off of the medical bed as Nicol started calling for help while Dearka shouted, "Hey calm down will ya?! Seriously Miriallia chill out!"

Nicol's cries for help were answered a minute later by Sai, as the glasses wearing boy ran in and grabbed Miriallia to hold her back from attacking Dearka again. Miriallia struggled as hard as she could against Sai's grasp as he tried to calm her down, all the while shouting, "Let go of me! Tolle's gone and he's never coming back, and yet these creeps…what are these scum bags doing here?!"

Dearka stared in shock, as he suddenly realized he made a mistake and hit the nail right on the head when he asked if Miriallia's boyfriend had died. Dearka could do nothing more than continue to stare as he hung his head in shame for saying such things to the sobbing girl who continued to ask why Tolle was gone, while Nicol just looked away in sadness. The click of a loading gun quickly drew everyone's attention to the doorway.

Upon looking there, they all saw a distraught and enraged Flay Allster holding a loaded gun right at Nicol, and Sai and Miriallia knew that she was not going to hesitate to shoot. As she stood there, her arms trembling as she held the gun pointed at the green haired boy, Flay's mind was flashing through both the memory of her father's death, and to her shock as much as anyone else's if they knew, of Kira and all the times she had spent with him, comforting him and being comforted by him, and of how she would never be able to apologize for how she had hurt him, leading her to declaring, "All of you Coordinators…DESERVE TO BE KILLED!"

Flay then shut her eyes as she started to pull the trigger, leading Dearka to panic and jump up, breaking the ropes that held him to the medical bed, and shout out, "Nicol move!"

Nicol tried, but found himself unable to move when he saw Dearka jump in front of him, intending to take the shot himself. Both Coordinators shut their eyes, bracing themselves for what was to come, when they heard the gun shot go off, and found it immediately followed by the sound of shattering glass. Dearka opened his eyes a bit to see that Miriallia had pushed Flay down and caused the shot to be redirected towards one of the lights in the ceiling, saving both his and Nicol's lives.

"Why'd you do that," Flay demanded as she and Miriallia sat up. "You were trying to kill them yourself! You despise these guys too, don't you?! You are exactly the same as I am!"

"Flay stop it," Sai shouted, effectively shutting the anti-Coordinator girl up.

"I'm not," Miriallia whispered, getting everyone's attention. As she continued, Miriallia found her voice getting louder as she let her tears fall. "I'm not…like you. I'm not!"

Dearka found himself hanging his head down in shame, knowing he was partly to blame for this whole mess, and thought to himself, _You got that right Miriallia. You're nothing like this bitch._

A moment later, a pair of the _Archangel_'s crew came in to see what had resulted from the whole fiasco. Sai explained the situation to them as best he could, and was informed that the captain would have to be told. Sai nodded in consent at that, and said that he would take Miriallia and Flay back to their rooms after Miriallia had gotten something that would help her to sleep for a bit, while a pair of crewman escorted Dearka and Nicol back to the brig.

* * *

A few hours after the incident aboard the _Archangel_, Murrue, Mu, Natarle, and the rest of the _Archangel_ command crew were seated before Captain Sutherland of the General Staff for a formal inquiry on the _Archangel_'s efforts. Before they began though, Sutherland brought something to everyone's attention. "If you don't mind Captain Ramius, I would appreciate it if you would establish whatever way you intend to allow us to speak with the Autobots as requested." It escaped no one's notice how Sutherland seemed to spit the word Autobots as though the word were something that left a bad taste in his mouth.

"That will not be necessary," a deep voice stated. Everyone turned to the entrance to see that three individuals had entered the room and were moving to sit with the _Archangel_'s crew. The lead figure appeared to be a man in his early to mid-thirties, with grayish-brown hair and beard, and electric blue eyes, and wore a red Earth Forces uniform jacket with blue pants. The second individual was a man who appeared to be slightly younger than the first, with black hair and wore a pair of light blue sunglasses, and an all white Earth Forces uniform. The third and final person, and sole female member of the group, had silver hair and blue eyes, and wore the same uniform as the first two in a dark pink color.

"What is the meaning of this intrusion? Who are you people," Sutherland demanded.

"Greetings Captain Sutherland," the man in the red and blue uniform replied. "I am Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots. With me are my first lieutenant, Jazz, and the _Omega II_'s acting first medical officer and my sparkmate, Elita One."

Sutherland just scoffed at this proclamation. "You seriously expect us to believe that? I was told that you three were supposed to be massive, intelligent robots who were able to bring down an entire army of Z.A.F.T. mobile suits alone."

"I understand your confusion Captain. My colleagues and I are merely using a technology we call Holo-forms to allow us to attend this meeting in person without having to inconvenience you in anyway. Though you may think that these holographic representations of us are nothing more than illusions, I assure you that we are fully aware of what is happening here despite the fact that our true forms are not present," Optimus explained. He did not notice that Elita was sending Sutherland a death glare from behind him that was just daring the captain to try and argue any of what her sparkmate was saying.

"Very well then," Sutherland then coughed, regaining his bearings. "Let us begin with this inquiry." With that, Optimus and his three comrades took a seat in the chairs that were then offered to them in the front of the room by Ramius and the others.

Well into the hearing, it was very clear that Sutherland was all but accusing Kira for everything that had happened after the destruction of Heliopolis, and Jazz and Elita both had the same thought about the man. He was like a worse, older, male version of Flay Allster. The whole time he did nothing but ridicule and put down the _Archangel_ crew while insinuating that everything that had happened to them or anyone that they made contact with was their fault, all the while making it clear that he intended to shift the blame of all the events after Heliopolis, including the destruction of "the all-important Strike" onto Kira who had now officially been labeled as MIA. Also, whenever he stated with as much emphasis as humanly possible how their enemies were the Coordinators, it escaped none of the Autobots notice how much hatred was present in his voice as they all did their best to stop themselves from pointing out the fact that their enemy was Z.A.F.T. not necessarily the Coordinators. The way he spoke was enough to get under even Optimus's plating, as he could not believe someone like this man was actually supposed to be fighting for the Earth.

Sutherland then went in for an even lower blow as he stated, "And then there's matter of you, Optimus Prime." At Optimus's questioning, yet hard glance, Sutherland elaborated, "After that initial appearance of the Decepticon during the destruction of the advance fleet, which one of your Autobots had become a part of, you and your Autobots have been clinging to the _Archangel_ like a child to its mother. You've claimed it was so that our world would be protected from your enemies the Decepticons, but we have seen much evidence that says that their forces have been sighted aiding Z.A.F.T. in multiple operations. If would seem to me that you are failing in your claimed mission, which leads me to wonder if you truly are trying to protect us from them."

"Why you…" Jazz started, only for Optimus to raise a hand to signal Jazz to not say anything.

"I understand that you have doubts about us Captain Sutherland. However, I must point out that we Autobots are few in numbers, while Megatron and his forces are not. We cannot be expected to handle every Decepticon related incident at once, and even when we are able to do so, there is still the fact that they have allied with Z.A.F.T., making it more difficult to combat their efforts."

"But of course," Sutherland remarked with all-too obvious sarcasm. "There's no reason at all to believe that the mighty alien warriors are not assisting the Coordinators while claiming that they are divided into two groups in order to hide the fact they are crippling our efforts from within."

"Are you completely fragged," Jazz shouted. "And what is your problem with us anyways? Ever since we got here, we've done nothing to warrant this kind of suspicion and finger pointing from you, and yet you keep acting like we're as much of problem as you think that Coordinators are."

"I suggest you teach your…_people_ to know better than to speak out against foreign matters Prime," Sutherland half-shouted in retort, barely making any acknowledgement that Jazz had spoken. "We are not here to discuss ethics of our world."

Elita put a hand on Jazz's shoulder to calm him down as Optimus stated, "While I do agree that we are not here to discuss such matters, I must also agree with my first lieutenant that your views seem to indicate that you seem to believe that all Coordinators are a scourge upon your world and are not something that should be given any kind of voice or freedom, and I have always believed, and will continue to believe, that freedom is the right of all sentient beings."

"A beautiful sentiment, but a naïve one as well," Sutherland stated. "Now if there are no further interruptions or methods to bring us off track, shall we continue?" At Optimus's hesitant nod, Sutherland continued with his tirade on the _Archangel_ and the Autobots, all the while making everyone from both groups more and more angered or suspicious of this treatment.

Finally the hearing concluded, much to everyone's relief, and Sutherland stood up as he stated, "We'll be in touch concerning the _Archangel_'s next assignment. Except for Commander Mu La Flaga, Lieutenant Commander Natarle Badgiruel, and Crewman Flay Allster all crew members will continue to standby aboard the ship. As for what you and your Autobots do Optimus, we'll leave that up to you so long as you do not interfere with any major work in the base and at least consider remaining here with the _Archangel_."

The fact that the previously mentioned three were excluded from the standby orders drove everyone for a loop and prompted Mu to ask why that was. "Orders are to have you three transferred," Sutherland replied. "Report to the personnel office tomorrow morning at o' eight hundred sharp."

"Sir, why is Crewman Allster being transferred as well," Natarle asked.

"You heard her words when she volunteered to join the military right?" At Natarle's confirmation, Sutherland continued, "Seeing as she's a member of the Allster family I'm sure those words will touch the hearts of many people, along with her motives for joining the military. Her contributions don't necessarily have to be on the front lines."

With that said, Sutherland left the room, not knowing that all three Autobots were glaring at him through their Holo-forms. As they watched him go, Optimus and the others could tell that there was something else going on, and so could the other Autobots, who had been secretly listening in through Optimus and Jazz's comm. links the entire time.

* * *

While the hearing was going on, Miriallia had made her way down to the brig to see Dearka again. She was not sure why she went down there, but something just drove her to go and see the blonde boy at least once more. Miriallia paused for a moment when she had reached Dearka's cell, and took a moment to catch her breath when she realized how hard she was panting for some strange reason. She then slowly breathed in and turned to look into the cell to see Dearka lying on the bed.

When Dearka noticed this, immediately sat up, surprised that Miriallia had appeared before him again so soon, startling the poor girl. Miriallia started run off when Dearka called for her to wait, prompting her to look back at him from over her shoulder. Dearka glanced to the side for a moment before he finally stuttered out, "So where was…your boyfriend when he…?"

Miriallia turned away once more as she answered, "He was in a Sky Grasper at the island when you guys made that last attack on us."

"A Sky Grasper," Dearka asked in confusion.

"A fighter plane. A blue and white one," Miriallia elaborated.

Dearka then looked down before he softly told her, "It wasn't me, and it wasn't Nicol either. I know cause he was with me the entire time before we got shot down."

Miriallia gave him a small grateful glance as she hummed in understanding. Dearka moved to lye back down as he said, "What's the matter? Might as well get to it if you came to kill me. Just do me one favor though before you do." Miriallia raised an eyebrow at that. "Leave Nicol out of it? He's about the farthest thing from a killer you can get. The only reason he joined Z.A.F.T. was so he could protect the PLANTs. He's a good guy, loves the piano, and he's almost always way too nice for his own good."

Miriallia was surprised to hear all this coming from Dearka and spared a glance towards Nicol, who appeared to be sleeping in the cell just next to Dearka's. At the sound of a small chuckle from the blonde, Miriallia turned to look back at him as he stated, "I once made fun of him by saying that the Blitz was the perfect machine for him because it was a machine meant for a coward, but the truth is I think Nicol is actually the bravest out of all of us. Don't even think about arguing with me Nicol, it won't change my mind any more than it will make me believe that your actually asleep over there."

A moment later, Nicol simply sighed and sat up on his bed and said, "Thanks for that Dearka. It really means a lot."

Miriallia just smiled at how close the two friends seemed to be and turned to leave when Dearka stopped her again. "Uh…can I at least introduce you two properly?"

Miriallia nodded after a slight amount of hesitation, which prompted Dearka to say, "Nicol, this is Miriallia, a friend of the Strike pilot, Kira Yamato. Miriallia, this is Nicol Amalfi, pilot of X207-Blitz Gundam."

Nicol raised an eyebrow at the word Gundam, but simply shrugged it off, before he smiled and said, "It's nice to meet you Miss Miriallia."

Miriallia smiled and said, "Nice to meet you too Nicol, but please don't call me Miss. Just Miriallia is fine."

Nicol nodded in acceptance of that, and then Miriallia left the two alone so that they could finally get some sleep.

* * *

A few hours after Optimus, Jazz, and Elita had returned from the hearing, it gave the Autobots the all clear to start ranting about how messed up the whole thing was. "I can't believe those slaggin' idiots," Jazz ranted as he slammed his fist into the wall. "I mean what is their problem? Are they so caught up in their little war and prejudices that they can't tell the difference between friend and foe anymore?!"

**_"_****_Not to mention the fact that they don't seem all that bothered by the fact that Kira's dead or that they're essentially blaming him for everything that's happened since he first boarded the Strike,"_** Bumblebee whirred in anger. It was clear to everyone that when it came to what was said in there, the only thing that really drove Bumblebee up the wall more than anything else was anything that was in relation to Kira. Not that anyone could blame him.

At that point, Bulkhead decided to vent his own frustration, and one of Elita's tools became an unfortunate victim of said venting. "Bulkhead! I…," Elita began.

"What? You needed that," Bulkhead snapped. "The only thing _I_ need is even some indication that our boy Kira is okay, or one good reason to bug out of this place and leave this planet to those idiots that think like Sutherland!"

"I agree with Bulkhead," Wheeljack stated, adding his own two cents. "I mean aside from the 'Cons, why are we even sticking around anymore? It's not like humanity really cares whether or not we're here."

"While that may or may not be true Wheeljack, we cannot allow the Decepticons to ravage this world as they did Cybertron. Though I agree that these people are not the best example of what humanity has to offer, Kira Yamato gave his life to ensure the safety of those precious to him, and they were fighting to protect the world they care for and all those who live in it," Optimus reasoned. "If we were to abandon the _Archangel_ or Earth for any reason now, then we may as well be insulting Kira's very memory. While it saddens me that such a kind, caring, and gentle soul was lost, I do believe that Kira's spirit lives on in the hearts of those who were close to him, who fought beside him, and who came to call him a friend just as we have. Which is why I intend to see to it that whatever its next assignment may be, the _Archangel_ does not fail in its mission to defend the Earth."

The Autobots were all silenced and awe-struck by Optimus's words, and found themselves thinking along the same lines as their leader. None of them intended to dishonor Kira and what he stood for, and they were all more determined than ever now to ensure the safety of those that Kira fought so hard to protect. After such a long period of silence, Arcee finally spoke up, "That still leaves a few questions unanswered though."

"What do you mean by that Arcee," Optimus asked.

"A couple hours after that so-called hearing, I went to do a little digging and found out what those reassignments were, and the only one that made even a lick of sense was the one for Badgiruel. She was to be sent to another base to await her next command assignment, while Mu was to be sent off to work as an instructor of all things."

"Whoa that can't be right," Hound stated and he pulled a Cybertronian cigar out of his mouth. "Mu's a majorly skilled pilot that's won many battles for the Earth Forces. The guy's practically built for being on the battlefield in the middle of a war."

"My thoughts exactly, but it gets weirder," Arcee went on. "Remember how they said they were still processing the requests the _Archangel_ made for shore leave, crew assignments, discharges, or whatever, and the fact that they were going over the details of the fact that they have prisoners aboard the ship?" At everyone's nod in reply Arcee continued saying, "There wasn't anything about any of it in there at all. It's almost like they just took all those requests and threw them out the window as if they were completely unimportant. It's like they don't even care or think that there's no need to bother with any of that for the _Archangel_, and that's just the tip of the iceberg."

Optimus paused for a moment as he thought about what Arcee had told them, and then he thought back to the hearing. He could not help but note that Sutherland was a bit more hostile towards the Autobots then he probably should have expected him to be, almost like he was planning on doing whatever he could to get rid of them the first chance he had, and then there was the fact that it seemed to ignore that Cybertronians were also known as Transformers for a reason beyond how they armed their default weapons. With all of this in mind, Optimus turned to his Autobots and stated, "Jazz, lead a team consisting of yourself, Arcee, Bumblebee, and Bulkhead to investigate this further. It would appear that there is more going on here than we have been led to believe. As you investigate though, remain in vehicular mode at all times unless absolutely necessary to drop cover."

"Understood Prime," Jazz said as he lead the three Optimus specified to the Ground Bridge deck, which Elita One was already preparing for action. As Optimus watched them go through the green vortex that led into JOSH-A base, he could not help but feel that dark times were ahead for the Autobots and the _Archangel_.

* * *

While the _Archangel_ was going through the grief they felt at the apparent loss of two of their crewmates, and the Autobots were beginning to investigate what the Earth Forces Command may or may not be hiding, up in the PLANTs, the sun was shining brightly and providing the residents of the Clyne family's home with a wonderful day. As the shining sun shone down the light from the sun caused a familiar, brown haired young man to stir and begin to wake up from where he was sleeping, opening his eyes to reveal the dark purple eyes of one Kira Yamato. As Kira slowly glanced around his surroundings, a familiar, cheerful voice spoke getting his attention. "Good morning sleepy head."

Kira turned to the person who spoke, but could not tell who it was at first, as his vision was a bit cloudy at the moment, and the bright sun light was not making it any easier for his eyes to adjust. "Where am I," Kira finally asked.

"There'll be time for that later," the same person told him. Finally, Kira's eyes were able to fully adjust to the light and he saw the same person he had met the same day that he had first found Bumblebee in the Debris Belt.

"You're Miss Lacus," Kira realized.

"Oh my! Just plain Lacus is fine, okay Kira," Lacus reassured him as her little friend the pink Haro hopped up onto Kira's bed. "But I'm so pleased to hear that you remembered my name."

"So has our sleeper awakened yet," a new voice asked. Kira looked towards the source and saw a man with dark hair, in an aqua green coat, and carrying walking stick had come in.

"Yes Reverend Malchio," Lacus replied.

"You must be surprised waking up out here," the new identified Reverend Malchio told Kira. "Miss Lacus was insistent that we bring your bed outside."

"Perhaps because it feels better to be outside than inside, don't you think," Lacus asked Kira.

Kira was not sure what to say to that and elected to simply ask one of the all important questions. "How did I get here?"

"I found you lying unconscious in my prayer garden," Malchio explained. "You were injured and in need of assistance, so I brought you here with a little help from someone who is well acquainted with your large metal friends."

Kira raised an eyebrow at that wondering what Malchio meant by that last part when it all started coming back to him. The battle with Athrun, how the Autobots were pinned down by the Decepticons, Tolle's death, it all started flashing through his mind as he started to hyperventilate a little. "But why…why am I…," Kira tried to ask.

"Because you possess the SEED. That's why," Malchio explained, gaining a questioning look from Lacus when he had stated that. Suddenly Kira bolted upright, gasping in shock and feeling tears running down as his face, getting Lacus concerned.

"I…fought against Athrun," Kira gasped. "I couldn't…have survived."

Lacus simply held Kira in a tight embrace as he let it all out. A short while later, Kira had calmed down a bit, and Lacus had offered to pour some tea for them, letting Kira tell her what had happened. "It was inevitable I guess," Kira stated. "Because I was the one who killed his friend, and then Athrun killed my friend, and that's why…"

Lacus looked down sadly as she stated, "So you tried with all your might to kill Athrun, and he tried to do the same to you." Kira simply nodded in reply, not sure what he could say, and Lacus continued by saying, "But none of that could be helped could it, because that's war and you both were fighting against the enemy. Am I mistaken?"

Kira looked at her in shock for a moment before glancing up at the sky in wonder for a moment as he pondered her words. Seeing Kira seemed to have much to think about, Lacus decided to give him time to think while she went in to get something for them to eat. As she did so, Lacus could not help but feel sad for Kira and all he had clearly gone through, but even so she was glad that he was alive now and felt that despite all the sad things that had happened to him, so many good things had happened to Kira as well.

When Lacus came back out, she found Kira had gotten up to look out at the horizon in thought. Lacus walked over to Kira and saw that he had a distant, sad look on his face. "Oh Kira, you look like you've had such sad dreams," Lacus told him.

Kira thought for a moment before replying, "I am sad. Many people have died, and I've killed many people. Even though it was not as many as it probably could have been, I still feel that even one death on my hands is worth many. Someone once told me that I could train to fight without killing people both in and outside of a mobile suit, but even so I still…"

Lacus placed her hand on the side of his face as she soothingly reassured him, "You had to fight as hard as you could though, and you protected many things. I'm positive of that, and even if you did kill, I'm certain that it was never intentionally after this person began to teach you right?"

Kira looked at Lacus in surprise at how much she had right about what she had said, and simply nodded in reply, already feeling somewhat better at that. Lacus smiled at him, seeing that Kira seemed to be cheering up a little, and then said, "Let's have something to eat shall we? I'll go reheat up the food."

"But…," Kira tried to protest, but Lacus was not going to hear any of it and simply started dragging Kira back into his bed saying he still needed to rest.

"Besides it'll be okay. This is still a place of peace," Lacus reassured Kira. With that, Kira simply sighed in defeat and let Lacus guide him back to the bed that had been set up for him. As soon as he was sitting comfortably back in his bed again, Lacus then turned a happy smile to Kira and asked, "By the way, I was wondering if you could tell me how Mister Bumblebee is doing Kira. Has he been alright?"

Kira was surprised that Lacus would want to hear about how Bumblebee was, but all the same he found it comforting to talk about the young Autobot scout and told her, "Yeah he's been doing really well. He's on Earth now, and was traveling with us along with his friends the other Autobots."

"Oh really," Lacus asked excitedly. "So you've met all the Autobots on Earth?"

"Well yeah for the most part. A few of them are still in stasis actually. Actually I met the leader of the Autobots after he saved my life in a battle we ended up in almost immediately after we landed on Earth."

"And what is he like?"

Kira smiled as he thought about that fateful meeting with the last Prime as he gave Lacus his reply. "He is amazing. His name's Optimus Prime, and he's actually the last of the Primes, the true leaders of Cybertron, and there's just something about him that inspires hope in others. Maybe it's the fact that he's such a powerful warrior who would give his life to defend others and the freedom of others, or maybe it's just something in the way he talks, whether in casual conversation or in the speeches he gives. All I know is, Optimus is by far one of the bravest, noblest, and most selfless Autobots I know."

Lacus smiled at this, because up until now, the only things she had heard about any of the Autobots were things she heard from either Dreadwing or other Decepticons, and none of that was anything really good a majority of the time. It was nice to hear such good things about the freedom fighters of Cybertron, which led her to ask, "Can you tell me about the other Autobots Kira? I'd really like to know about them."

Kira smiled and sat up as he began to tell Lacus a bit more about his new friends from another world. "Sure I don't mind. Now, where do I begin? I guess a good place to start would be with Bumblebee's girlfriend, Arcee, but they both always deny that there's anything between them other than friendship."

* * *

**_AN: Sorry this chapter did not have any action in it, unless of course you count that whole thing Miriallia trying to stab Dearka in her grief, and yes I kept that in there. Even though they had already met that doesn't mean Dearka's big fat mouth isn't going to get him into trouble with the girl._**

**_Ironhide: Sheesh, and I thought Sideswipe and Blaster were bad with the ladies._**

**_AN: Ooookay. Anyhow, uh-oh someone's not being completely honest, and Optimus and his boys are on to them. I'd hate to be Sutherland and his stooges when Optimus finds out the truth, assuming they find out in time. And just how much are Jazz and his team going to learn?_**

**_Ironhide: Uh shouldn't these be things that are said in the preview?_**

**_AN: No that would be the stuff that is said now. Onto the Preview!..._**

**_The fears that Optimus and the Autobots held of the Earth Forces Command are realized, as they uncover a plot that Command had come up with in response to Operation Spitbreak. Realizing the danger, Jazz and his team race to try and alert the others before it's too late, but before they can the Z.A.F.T. Operation begins. As the team of Autobots and Mu La Flaga race to reach the _****Archangel****_ and _****Omega II****_ to alert them, word of Operation Spitbreak's true target reaches Kira, and leads him to a decision on what he must do. Accompanied by an Autobot that was supposedly being held prisoner by the Decepticons, Kira descends onto the battlefield once more, this time with a better idea on what he should be fighting against. Next time on Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Prime…_****Chapter 22: Return of Two Heroes****_. Fly into action as your sword descends upon the battlefield Gundam!_**

**_Please read and review, and I'll see you next time!_**


	22. 22: Return of Two Heroes

_**AN: Ladies and gentlemen, it is finally here! The first of the many most epic moments in the story, as the **_**Archangel_ and _Omega II_ find themselves facing the first of their greatest challenges yet._**

**_Kira: Secrets will be revealed._**

**_Optimus: New mysteries will be brought about._**

**_Cagalli: And most importantly, will be the beginning of..._**

**_AN: DAH! CAGALLI SAYING TOO MUCH! [Hits control that causes massive hammer to swing down and narrowly hit Cagalli]_**

**_Cagalli: SERIOUSLY?! I WAS JUST READING YOUR SCRIPT! WHY DO YOU KEEP DOING THIS TO ME?!_**

**_AN: Oh I don't know, maybe because you keep trying to give away spoilers about the story! And I know that I did not write that into your script!_**

**_[AN and Cagalli continue to argue in the background, with a massive cartoon gag fight ensuing.]_**

**_Optimus: Perhaps we should proceed without them?_**

**_Kira: I think that would be for the best. lyokoMARVELanime does not own anything from any of the Gundam or Transformers franchises or any other franchise mentioned in this story._**

**_Optimus: And now my friends, prepare yourselves as the battle for Alaska begins!_**

* * *

**Chapter 22: Return of Two Heroes**

The morning of Flay, Mu, and Natarle's departure had come a little too soon for most people, but right now almost everyone of them hoped that at least one of those departures would hurry up and be over. Even from the _Omega II_, the Autobots could all hear Flay's protests about her being sent off of the ship. _How the Pits did those guys ever think that it was a good idea to let her enlist_, the Autobots all thought, including Optimus surprisingly. It was not until Flay was finally off of the _Archangel_ that she finally shut up, but even so, everyone on the ship was still sad to see their crewmates go. Despite all that had happened, each person aboard the _Archangel_ had formed a strong bond with each other that they were certain would last for a long time.

Though he shared his human friends' sadness at the departure of such great friends and comrades, Optimus himself was more preoccupied with other thoughts at the moment. Jazz, Bumblebee, Arcee, and Bulkhead had all now been gone for the entire day and all of the previous night since he sent them out for their investigation mission after the hearing and had yet to report anything of significance. Optimus was not that worried for their well being since he knew full well that all four of them could take care of themselves, but he could not help but still worry about his fellow Autobots and what they might find. It was not that he did not want them to have some form of success, but after what Arcee had told him and the others the previous night, he was truly feeling worried about what information the team would bring back.

It did not ease his worries for his team or the suspicions he was now holding when he and the others that were aboard _Omega II_ heard of the _Archangel_'s next assignment. They had simply been told that the white ship was to serve as part of JOSH-A's defense forces until further notice and that was that. Murrue had tried to get them to tell her something about why it seemed there had not been any news yet concerning any of their requests, but all they told her was that they were busy moving to defend Panama, that they would let Captain Sutherland know, and just left it at that.

_"__Like they were ever looking into fulfilling those requests to begin with,"_ Arcee stated over the radio as she reported in from where she was.

"All the same Arcee, the fact that they're still trying to cover up the truth like Knockout would a scratch on his finish and giving the _Archangel_ such fragged treatment simply means we need to uncover the reason why all the more quickly," Hound told her.

"Have you been able to find anything yet Arcee," Optimus asked.

_"__Not unless you count the fact that it seems nearly everyone seems to have vacated the place completely. At least everyone in the Atlantic Federation anyways."_

_"__Yo guys, might wanna hold up with the chatter for a second. I think I might have something you should be aware of,"_ Jazz suddenly cut in.

"What's up Jazz," Elita asked.

_"__I'm a little ways out from the control room. Obviously I'm not inside since my holo-form might be recognized, but I can still pick up what's being said in there, and you might wanna take a listen to what I just heard yourselves."_

Jazz then played back a recording he had made of the conversation that he had just mentioned for all the Autobots, both on the ship and out on the mission to hear. _"How's it coming,"_ they heard someone ask.

_"__Everything's on track,"_ they heard Sutherland's voice reply. _"I'm certain that everything will begin as we planned and finish as we planned."_

_"__And how's the evacuation coming,"_ another unknown voice asked.

_"__I'd say another three more vessels or so," _Sutherland replied.

_"__Does that give us enough time?"_

_"__There's no way they'll get to the deepest levels that quickly."_

That got everyone wondering why they thought someone would be getting to the deepest levels of what they assumed to be JOSH-A in a certain amount of time, and who they were talking about going there period. Before anyone could ask the question aloud, an all-too familiar voice caught the ears of every Autobot that was listening to the recording. _"I certainly hope you are right about that Captain Sutherland. After all the trouble that I went through, I'd hate for it all to be for not," _Starscream's voice stated smugly.

_"__Don't you mean all the trouble _we_ went through Starscream,"_ Onslaught's voice the asked.

_"__Oh yes of course Onslaught. The trouble _we_ went through,"_ Starscream quickly amended.

_"__Tell me that was not who I think it was,"_ Bulkhead asked from where he was in JOSH-A.

"Hate to be a bearer of bad news Bulk, but that was definitely Starscream and Onslaught talking to Sutherland and that little punk captain seems to be a lot chummier with them than he was with us," Wheeljack replied.

"It would appear that Sutherland has information that he has felt unnecessary to share with all of his forces, but as to what exactly he has been planning with Starscream and his new forces, it is hard to say at this time," Optimus observed aloud.

**"****But I thought Scream was working with Blue Cosmos, not the Earth Forces,"** Bumblebee then buzzed in.

"Guess there's a lot more going on with that so called terrorist group than any of us ever thought," Elita snarled angrily.

Optimus then turned to the monitor that was displaying an image of Jazz's helm as he ordered, "Jazz, you and Bulkhead return to _Omega II_ at once. Arcee and Bumblebee, do whatever you must to uncover just what Sutherland is hiding in the lower levels and who they are hoping to lure down there."

_"__On our way Prime,"_ Jazz answered, and then the communication lines were closed.

"Optimus," Elita asked as she walked over and placed her servo in Optimus's with a worried look.

"I know Elita. I too fear that we and this world are all about to face a dark day in both ours and the humans' war," Optimus answered with his own worried expression as he gave her hand a gentle squeeze, showing his sparkmate that he was here for her right now.

* * *

Meanwhile up in space, and with all the rest of the Z.A.F.T. and Decepticon forces, said armies had finished with all preparations for Operation: Spitbreak and were now just waiting for Chairman Zala's authorization to proceed. Megatron stood on the bridge of the _Nemesis_ watching as his forces prepared to move out along with the Coordinators as Zala received word that the landing teams were in position and the operation area was all green. If he were to be honest at least with himself, then Megatron would have to say that he was disappointed that Athrun Zala and Dreadwing would not be participating in this operation, but all the same he understood that Athrun had been asked to return home and join Z.A.F.T.'s Special Forces for a reason, and Dreadwing had been insistent on acting as Athrun's guard in his return trip home. He smiled with pride at the fact that Dreadwing had succeed so brilliantly in at least some small aspect of his mission with the Zala team, and felt more certain than ever that Dreadwing would make a very fine first lieutenant.

Megatron was then stirred from his musings as Patrick Zala gave a final speech before Operation: Spitbreak finally commenced. "As we embark on this operation, it is my strongest wish that it will bring the war to a swift conclusion, and inspire the hope in us all that this will lead to true freedom and justice! Let Operation: Spitbreak now commence!"

Megatron then grinned in anticipation at what would come next, and he did not have to wait long. _"Message from central command,"_ someone then announced a moment later. _"Target of operation code name Spitbreak is JOSH-A, Alaska."_

Megatron let out a low, menacing chuckle at the mutterings of confusion he could hear coming over the comm. of the Z.A.F.T. forces' confusion at the change in location for the operation from Panama to JOSH-A, showing that he and his most trusted Decepticons knew the true target of Spitbreak the entire time and then softly commented, "In battle, the quickest way to slay any beast you face is to sever the head. Decepticons, prepare to assault JOSH-A, Alaska now! Transform and rise up!"

A mere minute after Megatron's orders to proceed, a large fleet of Decepticon vehicons and flyers had deployed through Decepticon Ground Bridges or from the _Nemesis_ itself to head for Alaska along with the rest of the Z.A.F.T. forces. As he watched his forces go, Megatron thought to himself, _Today may finally see the end of the Autobots at last. Though if that is true, then the only thing I have to regret about all of this is that you did not fall by my hand Optimus Prime._

* * *

"That's a creative move," Yzak commented to Slipstream over his comm. link. "I see Chairman Zala wasn't put in charge for nothing. I'm kind of impressed."

_"__Yeah and why's that Yzak,"_ Slipstream asked from aboard the _Havoc_, which she had taken command of after Dreadwing's departure for the PLANTs.

"Because they've concentrated their forces at Panama, where they expected us to attack. This is our opportunity, and this will finish the Naturals," Yzak explained excitedly.

Slipstream had to smirk in excitement as well as she fully agreed with that sentiment whole heartedly. _"And with any luck, it will see the end of Prime and his Autobots at last as well."_

"Then let's go get 'em," Yzak stated, and not a minute later, he and the Decepticons of the _Havoc_ were off once again for battle, this time with all of Z.A.F.T. and the Decepticon armies alongside them.

* * *

They had all heard the alarms sound throughout all of JOSH-A and the explosions that had come quickly after, but that did not mean that any of them wanted to believe what they were hearing. Sadly, those hopes were dashed as outside the Decepticons had sent numerous vehicon troops and flyers out with all forms of Z.A.F.T. forces from BaCUEs to GOOhNs and all manner of mobile suit that Z.A.F.T. possessed.

A moment later, the _Archangel_ received a message from JOSH-A's joint operations room, and Sutherland's face appeared on the main monitor. "Captain Sutherland, what's going on," Ramius asked.

Whether or not Sutherland heard her was hard to tell, and from the image Optimus was looking at on the _Omega II_, it seemed as though the man was barely trying to conceal a devious smile as he spoke. _"All defense forces are to launch at once. Commence interception,"_ Sutherland stated in a supposedly angered tone. _"They tricked us! At the last minute they switched their target here to JOSH-A!"_

Murrue was as shocked to hear this as everyone else aboard the _Archangel_ and the _Omega II_ was, and Miriallia and Sai could swear that they heard Optimus almost growl out Megatron's name under his breath as though it were a curse, but she was quick to shake it off as she pondered aloud, "Fighting under these conditions is suicidal, but we can't afford to lose headquarters."

She then turned her attention to the battle that was ahead of them and gave her orders to the ship. "All hands proceed to level one battle stations! We've been given our orders and the _Archangel_ is taking off!"

"You're kidding! Without Kira or the commander," Kuzzey exclaimed. Murrue understood why Kuzzey would ask such a thing, but all the same she knew that they had to do this.

"Autobots, prepare to roll out! The _Omega II_ is heading out into battle as well! Our primary mission is to protect the _Archangel_, the defense forces, and everyone else in JOSH-A from the Decepticon forces at all costs," Optimus then ordered his own troops.

"Whoa Prime," Jazz cut in as he walked onto the bridge. "You sure that's a good idea since we're down two Bots at the moment?"

"Bumblebee and Arcee will join us as soon as they can, but until then we must proceed to do everything that we can for our human friends and allies," Optimus stated with confidence. "Jazz, you and Bulkhead remain here and take command of the bridge. The rest of you are with me on the deck in the field."

The other 'Bots nodded in confirmation of the orders, and soon all but Jazz and Bulkhead were loading up with their choice of extra weapons and jetpacks to meet their enemies head on, none of them able to completely distract themselves from worrying about their friends in JOSH-A, or even aware of what was really going on.

* * *

As the sounds of explosions from the battle rang throughout the base, Mu La Flaga was racing through the joint operations center trying to find someone that could tell him what was going on outside, but so far he had not found any one at all. Mu had a hunch that something was really wrong with everything going on in JOSH-A for a while now, and after handing Flay the papers she would need to leave the base he had run off to get to the bottom of things. Mu continued to run through the base to find anyone he could, when he paused for a moment as a weird, yet familiar tingling sensation rang through his head. "That feeling," Mu wondered aloud. "Is Rau Le Creuset here?"

Shaking it off after a moment, Mu resumed running through the hallways until he reached the control room of joint operations. Even though it was the only room that seemed to have any form of light source on, he still felt he should be extremely cautious after getting that feeling he always had whenever Le Creuset was nearby, so he pulled out his energon pistol and slowly looked into the room. There was someone in there, and that person quickly spun around and started shooting at him. Mu had quickly ducked back behind the door frame, and quickly ran in taking cover and avoiding the bullets as best as he could as he did, getting a glimpse of a white Z.A.F.T. uniform and blonde hair as he did, confirming his suspicions that Le Creuset was here.

"It's been a while Mu La Flaga," Le Creuset called from behind his own cover in the other door. "I don't have time for fooling around. Though we've only just met again I apologize for leaving so soon, but if you're still hanging around here, your usefulness to the Earth Forces must be nearly at an end. Oh Hawk of Endymion, how the mighty have fallen."

Mu tried to edge out of his cover to get a better aim on his long-time rival, but Le Creuset just fired off a pair of shots that forced Mu back behind his cover behind a computer and then tried to run off before the ace pilot could get off even one shot on the masked man, but found his exit blocked by a certain blue, Autobot femme. "Going somewhere," Arcee asked as she leveled her default blaster at Le Creuset.

"So the Autobots are still here as well," Le Creuset smirked. "I guess this means Mu's not the only one who's outlived his usefulness. It's actually a shame really; I was really hoping to see how a final battle between the two armies of Cybertron would turn out."

"What're you on about," Arcee demanded.

"Damn it," Mu then gasped. Arcee then took a moment to look over to where Mu was and saw that he was looking at a display on a computer screen, which Le Creuset took advantage of to make his escape.

"Mu? What're you still doing here," Arcee asked.

"Never mind that now Arcee! We've gotta get everyone out of here and fast," Mu told her.

"Why?"

"Take a look and see for yourself," Mu told as he pointed at the screen with his thumb. Arcee crawled over to see the display as best she could, given that she had a small amount of trouble getting around in the room even though she was the smallest of the Autobots, and then gasped at what she saw and at how everything seemed to fit into place and make sense at last.

"By Primus they're insane," Arcee hollered. She then transformed into vehicle mode and shouted to Mu, "Get on now!"

Mu was not about to argue, and as soon as he was on, Arcee started to race back through the hallway she had come from, this time not bothering to be careful of any equipment that would get in her way, and called out over her comm. to Bumblebee saying, "Bumblebee, contact Optimus and request a Ground Bridge. Get yourself back to the _Omega II_ now and tell Optimus that we need to get as many people as we can out of here and fast."

**"****What? Why,"** Bumblebee buzzed from his end.

"I explain once I'm aboard myself, just go!" With that Arcee cut the line, and started racing for an area that she knew that she would be able to safely call for a Ground Bridge from with Mu holding on tightly as he could to keep from falling off.

* * *

Le Creuset encountered little resistance as he began to make his escape from JOSH-A, only having to stop and shoot a few people as he went, but then was brought to a complete stop when he found Flay Allster sitting on the floor pointing a gun at him in fear. Flay had left the transport that was supposed to take her and Mu from JOSH-A after she had heard the alarm, intent on reaching the _Archangel_, but had quickly gotten lost. That had lead her into her current situation after she had tripped over someone that Le Creuset had shot.

"Now this is interesting," Le Creuset commented aloud, and for some reason something about his voice seemed to cause Flay to freeze in shock.

"Daddy," Flay exclaimed in shock, completely confusing Le Creuset. "Th…that's my daddy's voice."

Now Le Creuset was both confused and curious. He was not sure whether it was from the trauma of being caught out on the battlefield like this, exhaustion from running all over the base, or something else, but for some reason Flay had thought that his voice sounded like her father's for some bizarre reason. Not wanting to take too long wasting time like this or take any chances, Le Creuset simply rushed up and punched Flay in the gut, causing her to lose consciousness. Before the red haired girl could fall to the floor, Le Creuset grabbed her with one arm and then moved to carry her out of the command room and back to his mobile suit, intent on bringing the girl back with him. Before he got very far, a soft chuckle from behind him caught his attention as an unknown voice stated, "This is very interesting indeed. I assume you are Rau Le Creuset?"

Le Creuset simply turned around and saw a Decepticon he had only heard of until now standing a short ways away looking down at him with a smug grin. "And if I were, would I assume you are Starscream?"

"You would assume correctly," Starscream confirmed.

"You know you are considered a traitor to the Decepticons and Z.A.F.T."

"Ah yes, and that led me to where I am today, but you are the one who is essentially kidnapping the child of late Minister Allster, for what purpose I'm sure very few can only guess. Which begs the question, what happens now?" Starscream and Le Creuset just stood there for a while staring each other down, wondering what the other would do next. A short while later, Le Creuset was flying back to his fellow Z.A.F.T. troops in his custom machine with Flay Allster in his lap, while a silver jet with a few notable bullet holes in its armor flew away without anyone noticing. If one were to have seen all this after witnessing a bit of that exchange, they would think that the two had simply let each other go, but then again that would be crazy to assume would it not?

* * *

Up in the PLANTs, Kira was looking out at the horizon from the Clyne estate, thinking many things over. A short while ago, a light rain had passed and the sun was now shining brightly, which only served as a reflection of what had happened to Kira recently. Shortly after he had sat down for some tea with Lacus and Malchio, Lacus's father had arrived to inform him and Malchio that none of the transports to Earth were being allowed to fly at the moment, including Malchio's personal shuttle, only to be interrupted by a call from a good friend of his on the PLANT Supreme Council that believed that they should be doing everything they could to start peaceful negotiations instead of planning more military operations. The council woman had then informed him that Operation: Spitbreak's true target had been revealed to be Alaska, and as soon as he heard that, Kira could only tremble in fear of what would happen to his friends that were supposed to be at Alaska right now. Now that he had calmed down and thought things through, Kira suddenly found he had come to a realization about what he should do.

Kira was now trying to think of what to tell Lacus, when he heard the door open and the pink songstress herself approach him from behind. At Lacus's call to him, he turned around to face her with a small amount of tears in his eyes, knowing that it was now or never. "It's time I left here," Kira told Lacus.

"Oh," Lacus replied sadly. "Where were you thinking of going?"

"I have to return to Earth," Kira informed her, his determination growing by the minute.

"Why? Even if you go you can't end the war by yourself," Lacus pointed out.

"I know," Kira conceded. "But I can't just stay here any longer doing nothing. If you just did nothing because you thought it wouldn't help, then you'd end up doing less than nothing, for nothing would change and nothing would end. Plus there are now two wars going on here now, and I can't just let the Autobots down after all they have done for us all. Optimus once said that the Autobots would never surrender to any force, Decepticon or otherwise, and I think that applies to more than just an opposing army."

"Will you be fighting against the Z.A.F.T. forces again," Lacus asked. When Kira shook his head no, Lacus then asked, "Then the Earth Forces?"

Again Kira shook his head no and stated, "I now believe that I have a much better understanding of what we should be fighting against, and I have no doubt in my mind that Bumblebee, Optimus, and all of the Autobots know what that is as well."

Lacus stared at Kira for a moment, gazing into his eyes and seeing all the struggles and hardships he had gone through, but also seeing the conviction and hope that was now dwarfing all of that, and the determination he held to do whatever he could to help his friends. After gazing into Kira's eyes for another moment, part of which she could not help but use to admire how beautiful she thought his eyes were, Lacus smiled and told him she understood and asked him to follow her.

Kira followed Lacus inside where Lacus brought him to the estate's butler who was holding out a Z.A.F.T. red uniform. "Please put this on Kira," Lacus told him. She then turned to her butler and stated, "I'd like you to inform them from now on Lacus Clyne will be singing the song of peace."

Kira could now tell clearly that Lacus had been planning something like this for a while now, along with a possible underground activist group of some kind, and he then nodded in thanks as he took the uniform and changed into it in another room. A little while later, he and Lacus were riding to a destination that was unknown to Kira in the Clyne family's limo, with Lacus explaining the etiquette of Z.A.F.T. soldiers to him while they were in the car. At long last, they had arrived at their destination, which turned out to be a Z.A.F.T. hangar of some sort with restricted access.

Lacus then brought Kira through the corridors towards one hangar in particular, only encountering at least two or three Z.A.F.T. soldiers as they went. When Lacus saw that the technicians guarding the doorway had seen them, she gave them a nod and the two immediately opened the door for them, which Lacus then had Kira follow her through. A moment after they had entered, a small amount of lights had come on, and a British sounding voice suddenly spoke up saying, "You know when you said that you did not want any Z.A.F.T. regular soldiers knowing you were coming here I didn't think you would end up bringing them here yourself love."

Kira looked towards the source and saw a large red and white Cybertronian with blue optics and a pair of wings extending upwards on his back looking down at them as they floated through the zero gravity environment of the room, and as they did Kira was able to notice that he had a familiar red logo on both of his wings. "It's alright," Lacus reassured the robot from another world. "This is Kira Yamato, and he's actually not a Z.A.F.T. soldier."

The red and white Cybertronian then seemed to squint a bit as he looked at Kira and then just started chuckling as he said, "Well I'll be a rusty old clanker, all that stuff about Coordinators being fast healers really was true. I must say lad, you're lookin' a lot better than when I first laid optics on ya in Malchio's garden."

"Are you…an Autobot," Kira finally asked.

"Actually, you're only half right there lad," the Autobot clarified. "Name's Jetfire, second in command of the only Autobot unit completely composed of flyers…"

"The Aerialbots," Kira finished excitedly.

"Yeah, how'd you know about that?"

"I was there when the Autobots brought the other four to their base on Earth. Ratchet said that he would have them out of their stasis pods and fully repaired pretty soon too."

Jetfire then let out an overjoyed laugh. "I just knew that old bloke, Silverbolt, wouldn't let us down so easily even in stasis."

Kira smiled happily at the fact that not only had he found the missing Aerialbot, but that he was also able to let him know that the others were all okay. Jetfire then turned to Lacus and asked, "Well since he seems to be doing better, I'm assuming you didn't bring the lad here just so he could give me an update on my old crew Miss Clyne."

Lacus nodded, and with that Jetfire walked over to a hit some keys on a control which soon illuminated the entire room, and brought Kira's attention to a large, grey mobile suit with wings that had an appearance that he knew quite well. "A Gundam," Kira exclaimed.

Jetfire raised an eyebrow at that, never having heard anyone refer to this machine as that before, while Lacus giggled and told Kira, "Actually that's not what it's called. This is the ZGMF-X10A Freedom, but you know Gundam's better because it sounds more powerful."

Lacus then glanced at the machine and explained to Kira, "Under orders from Chairman Zala, they designed a new machine with the same capabilities as the Earth Forces mobile suits they captured, and then added state-of-the-art technology to it."

"And then the bloomin' 'Cons forced me to help with adding a few bits of Cybertronian tech to give it more of an edge," Jetfire finished.

Kira glanced at Lacus in confusion as he asked, "But why are you letting me…?"

Lacus smiled at Kira as she replied, "I feel that this machine has the power you're going to need. Neither will alone, nor strength alone will be enough, so will this take you where you want to go, and will it help you when you get there?"

"You know this is the only machine that I actually had a bit of a hand in naming. Though Megatron took the suggestion of calling it the Freedom as a sense of irony since they were planning to have it help Z.A.F.T. and the Decepticons, I had actually meant it out of respect for Optimus's belief that freedom is the right of all sentient beings, and I had a hunch that this machine would end up helping the Autobots bring about that age of freedom for all," Jetfire then informed Kira when the young Coordinator did not immediately respond. Kira took all that in as he pondered Lacus's words and what Jetfire had just said, hardly believing that this was all actually happening before he finally made his decision and agreed to take the Freedom with him to Earth.

Kira then quickly suited up into a Z.A.F.T. pilot suit and then made his way to the Freedom's cockpit. Once he had reached it, he turned to Lacus one last time and asked, "Are you sure?"

Lacus smiled and stated, "Yes, and I too will be singing the great song of peace."

Kira smiled and thanked Lacus once again as Jetfire walked over and said, "Well lad if you're ready, let's roll out shall we?"

Kira looked at Jetfire in shock and asked, "Wait you're coming with me?"

"Are you kidding, of course I am! I've been having to endure acting like I was Megatron's prisoner for cycles just waiting to find even a bit of information on my fellow Aerialbots while helping Miss Clyne here, so I am more than ready to blow this place and get down to Earth where my fellow 'Bots need me, aerial and Auto."

Kira nodded eagerly in thanks before turning back to Lacus and saying, "Be careful."

"I will," Lacus reassured Kira. "You too Kira, and know that my strength goes with you." With that, Lacus leaned in and gave Kira a kiss on the cheek, surprising the young man and making Jetfire feel a tad bit awkward.

After Lacus pulled away, Kira smiled and nodded in thanks to her one last time before Lacus moved to float away and stated, "And now, you and Jetfire should both be on your way."

Kira then strapped his borrowed helmet on as he climbed into the Freedom and began powering up the mobile suit. As he looked over the specs of the machine he found something amazing about it. "Energon Reactor Core," Kira exclaimed. "Amazing! This seems to make the machine even better than any nuclear powered device and it has over six times the power of the Strike. Plus with the armor being made of the same Cybertronian metal the Autobots use in their armor, it's even stronger than any ordinary mobile suit."

Kira then brought the Freedom fully online and activated the machine's Phase Shift armor, changing the machine's colors from dull grey to mostly white, with a black torso, and blue wings. As soon as he did, everyone working on the Freedom noticed that someone was being taken and were thrown into confusion and panic. Before anyone could seal him or Jetfire in, the two immediately lifted off and blasted out into space at high speed, with Jetfire transforming into a large Cybertronian white jet with red highlights as soon as he did. Before they got very far from the PLANTs, a pair of GINNs moved to intercept them.

"I'll handle those fraggers lad," Jetfire told Kira, and the Aerialbot then immediately blasted off towards the two GINNs and disabled them completely with a few shots from his guns, letting him and Kira blow by them and straight for Earth. Neither one of them knowing that they passed Athrun and Dreadwing heading for the PLANTs as they did.

* * *

As the battle for JOSH-A raged on, it was beyond obvious to Optimus that Earth Forces command had taken all of their best with them to Panama, but he doubted it was because they were really tricked if what Bumblebee had told them was true. Even though the scout had stated that he had no clue as to why Arcee would say they would need to leave the area, Bumblebee was convinced that Arcee would not have said it the way she did for no reason. That was all that Optimus felt he needed to hear for the moment, because he knew that Arcee would explain the full details as soon as she arrived.

Of course, Optimus and the Autobots were not the only ones to notice how lax the defenses of JOSH-A were, as Yzak and the Decepticons had noticed as well, but they were annoyed with it for a completely different reason. "Is this really all there is to shoot," Yzak asked annoyed with how easy this was turning out to be.

"Oh stop your whining and enjoy the fact that we are annihilating the enemy," Slipstream stated. "I do admit I was hoping for more of a challenge, but what can you do?"

"How about pick on someone your own size," Hound shouted out as he fired a shot from a Chaos-Rift Combustor that caused Slipstream and the other two Seekers to scatter. While the Decepticons were helping out with dealing with the Earth Forces, the Decepticon Commanders were focusing most of their efforts on the _Omega II_ and that was not much help for them or the _Archangel_.

"Hey would someone care to tell me whether or not the main fleet actually intends to come back here and join this fight before it becomes even more hopeless," Elita asked as he shot off a few rounds from her E.D.K. TechVolt at Airachnid and some nearby Decepticon flyers.

_"__Somehow I get the feeling they'll be none too eager to help out in the way we want 'em to Elita, especially if what Bumblebee said is anything to go by,"_ Jazz commented from the bridge.

Meanwhile, Arcee had finally raced to a point that she could call for a Ground Bridge, but she did not want to waste time going from the _Omega II_ to the _Archangel_. "Arcee to _Omega II_, I need a Ground Bridge directly to the _Archangel_'s hangar now!"

_"__Uh you sure about that Arcee,"_ Jazz asked. _"Ratchet said that he hadn't had time to give the _Omega II_'s Ground Bridge a test drive for that kind of application yet."_

"Just do it, and tell the deck crew to get out of the way, cause we're gonna be coming in hot!" A couple of seconds after, the green vortex had opened up and Arcee raced through the portal and immediately hit the brakes hard as she hit the deck of the _Archangel_'s hangar. Mu then jumped off and made a beeline for the _Archangel_'s bridge to inform Murrue of what he and Arcee had learned while Arcee transformed and raced back out of the ship to inform Optimus and the other Autobots.

As soon as La Flaga made it onto the bridge, Murrue spun around and cried out, "What are you doing here Commander? What about your transfer?"

"That's not important," Mu told her. "We have to get out of here right now! This is all one screwed up plan! What kind of orders did they give the defense forces?!"

At everyone's looks of confusion, Mu began to elaborate, with Optimus and the Autobots all being able to listen over the open comm. frequency they had with the _Archangel_. "Okay, now listen up. There's a large Cyclops System underneath headquarters, and that thing is powerful enough to turn everything within ten kilometers of the base into a blast furnace. It's impossible to defend the base with what's left, and reinforcements from Panama can't make it in time. Soon the defenders will be gone and the main gate will come down. That's when headquarters will make the decision to activate the Cyclops, and destroy the base, and in the process they'll take out more than half of Z.A.F.T. and the Decepticons' fighting strength! That's the scenario for this whole battle as imagined by the top brass!"

"It can't be," Murrue exclaimed in dismayed shock.

"Arcee is this true," Optimus gasped in shock.

"Yes sir. Mu and I both saw it with our own optics. The command center is completely empty, and the only ones left behind to fight back are the Eurasian Forces, the _Archangel_, and the _Omega II_ because those selfish idiots have given up on their own ship and feel like they should eliminate a problem to their new ally," Arcee snarled.

"Do I even want to know who this ally is," Wheeljack moaned as he fired his Path Blaster at Blackout to drive the large helicopter 'Con back before he got too close.

"You probably don't, but you and I both know I have to say it Wheeljack," Arcee stated. "They've made a deal to work with Starscream. I saw it all in the databases that I couldn't hack before. That's what that encounter that Bee and Elita had with the Insecticons was all about. Starscream was building up his part of his new army with the Insecticons and the Combaticons as his newest soldiers, and it's also the reason why Blue Cosmos was so interested in T-Cogs that time."

No one could believe what they were hearing from Mu or Arcee. Command had really betrayed them all for Starscream and left every one of them there to die only after a desperate battle so the enemy would not know that the base was abandoned. Optimus now knew that humanity was full of corrupt individuals that could be considered as Earth's own version of Decepticons, and everyone on the _Archangel_ were simply horrified by all of this.

"What…what kind of strategy is this," Miriallia asked finally breaking the silence. "Because this is a war, and because we're all supposed to be good soldiers if they tell us to…I guess we're just supposed to throw away our lives."

The mere idea of that being true either saddened or infuriated everyone Autobot and human alike, right to the point that one scout's temper finally boiled over. **_"NO WAY! There is no way in the Pits that's what it should mean to be good soldiers of any force! That is not what it means to be an Autobot and it never will! I'm not gonna throw my life away because someone in some dysfunctional, prejudiced army told me to,"_** Bumblebee shouted. Though none of the _Archangel_ crew could understand him, they had a pretty good idea of what he said if the looks on the other Autobots' faces were anything to go by.

"Bee's right," Wheeljack confirmed. "Even the commanders in the Wreckers would never give an order to throw away their troops lives even if we do take on the more high risk missions."

"Yeah and Optimus would never give an order like that to anyone under his command either," Bulkhead agreed from the bridge of _Omega II_.

"I'm with Bumblebee on this one. I don't care what those prejudiced morons say, I'm not throwing away my life for no reason like this," Hound added.

"As Bulkhead said, I would never order any Autobot or any form of warrior under my command to throw their life away for no reason, and I have no intentions of starting today," Optimus stated.

Hearing all of this, and similar statements that came from the rest of the 'Bots, Murrue then made a declaration of her own. "If the object of this whole battle was to lure the Z.A.F.T. and Decepticon forces closer in then in my opinion this ship has already accomplished its mission. Note that I, Murrue Ramius, captain of the _Archangel_, make this decision alone. No other crewmember is to be held responsible for these actions."

"Don't put so much pressure on yourself," Mu warned the captain.

"Agreed, for there is no reason to, for I, Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots, make this decision as well, both for the reason of supporting my allies, and for the reason that to do otherwise would be to turn against everything that the Autobots stand for," Optimus then told Ramius.

"Thank you Optimus," Murrue stated as she stood up. "This ship will now abandon the battle area and begin to make its withdrawal! Signal the other ships, and tell them to follow us. Engines full speed to port! We'll break through the left side of the bay!"

"_Omega II_, match the _Archangel_'s coarse and provide covering fire for both it and all other ships that follow after it. Autobots do what you can to rescue any humans that you are able to, but stay close to the two ships at all times. The protection of the _Archangel_ and _Omega II_ are now our top priorities," Optimus ordered.

At once, Jazz scanned what he could of JOSH-A base and confirmed that the forces that were on the ground in the base were all dead or dying with no way for the Autobots to reach them in time. While on the _Archangel_, Mu launched in the Sky Grasper to provide support as well. Even so, things were not going smoothly.

After letting Z.A.F.T. take the main gate, the two ships found themselves struggling heavily as they tried to escape, and the fact that the Duel had begun attacking the _Archangel_ while Slipstream and the Decepticon commanders attacked the _Omega II_ was not any help either. All around them, they had to watch as allied ships were either sunk or became dead in the water while the two ships simply took on more damage by the minute. Mu was able to drive the Duel's attention on to him, but there was not much more he could do than that. Suddenly, a Z.A.F.T. GINN flew right up to the _Archangel_'s bridge and aimed its rifle at it.

"NO," Arcee cried out as she and Bumblebee desperately raced over to try and reach them, even though they knew they would not make it. It all seemed like everything was moving in slow motion, as the Autobots and the crew of the _Archangel_ began to fear the worse, and then a miracle happened.

A miracle in the form a beam blast from the sky destroying the GINN's rifle just before it could fire. The next thing anyone saw was a white and blue blur swooping down and slashing the GINN's head off causing the mobile suit to fall back before it was destroyed. Everyone then looked towards the object that saved the _Archangel_ and had now moved to fly in front of the bridge of the ship facing their enemies, and saw a large white mobile suit with blue wings, armed with a large black shield and a beam rifle. "Whoa, where did he come from," Hound asked.

"A party crasher huh," Slipstream snarled. "Who invited you?"

"He invited himself, with me as his plus one you bloomin' fragger," a British sounding voice called out just before Slipstream was bombarded by a hail of bullets. The Autobots and Seekers all looked and saw a white and red Cybertronian jet swoop down and completely outmaneuver Slipstream before she had a chance to retaliate with an excited "WHOO-HOOO!"

"Oh by Primus, is that you Jetfire," Wheeljack called out excitedly.

"How many other blokes do you know that can out fight the Seeker siblings on their own field like," Jetfire asked as he spun around and transformed, arming himself with a Thermo Rocket Cannon on his right arm that he immediately fired a few shots at some flyers with.

"_Archangel_, _Omega II_, this is Kira Yamato in the ZGMF-X10A Freedom Gundam. I'll cover you. Meanwhile, please withdraw to safety," Kira then radioed, shocking the _Archangel_ crew and the Autobots right to their cores.

"Kira," Miriallia asked in surprise.

"It is Kira," Sai exclaimed happily.

"Our Kira," Murrue asked in the same tone as Miriallia.

"Kira is that really you," Optimus called over his comm. link.

"Yeah it is Optimus. Sorry to worry you guys," Kira replied.

"You are alive. We feared the worst my young friend."

"Well there will be plenty of time for a proper reunion later," Kira then reminded him. He then had the Freedom fly up as he tapped into the power that Malchio called the SEED, entering SEED Burst mode at will for the first time. He then brought all of the Freedom's weapons online and fired a massive burst at his enemies, but not once did he ever hit any of the cockpits, making Optimus smile under his battle mask seeing that Kira had finally found a way to ensure his training was brought out to its fullest after losing the Strike.

"Please stop wasting time and withdraw," Kira told his friends.

"Yes but…" Murrue stated, coming out of her shock as best she could after she saw Kira's face appear on the monitor.

_"__There's a Cyclops System beneath the headquarters, and we've all been made fools of by the Earth Forces command by letting them con us into being bait."_ Kira gasped in shock when he heard Jazz's report to him. _"That's why we can't bail on the party just yet. We gotta get further away from the base."_

"I understand," Kira told him. He then opened a channel to every combatant in the area as he began firing all of the Freedom's weapons to drive his opponents back. "Attention all Z.A.F.T., Earth Alliance, and Decepticon forces. Any moment now the Cyclops system will activate and the Alaska base will self destruct. Both sides please cease fighting and withdraw from this area immediately! I repeat…"

Everyone could only stare in astonishment and awe as Kira repeated his message to the warring factions, and soon enough everyone began either smiling with pride at what Kira was doing or praying that he could pull it off. However, not everyone was doing so, as one silver haired, scarred pilot swooped down firing on the Freedom. "I'm not falling for that," Yzak shouted as he charged at Kira, only for the Freedom to block his blasts with its shield.

Kira thought back to how the Duel had destroyed the shuttle full of civilians and how much he hated him for a moment, until he calmed down and remembered what was happening here and now, and then intercepted Yzak's attacks with the Freedom's shield blocking the Duel's beam saber, and then catching Yzak's punch with his free hand. "I told you to stop! Do you want to die," Kira shouted out.

"What do you mean," Yzak shouted as he used the Duel's assault shroud to try and blast the Freedom's head off, only for the Freedom to dodge and land a head butt on the blue mobile suit allowing it to back flip in mid-air and swoop in with its beam saber, aiming at first at Yzak's cockpit.

Yzak cried out in fear of the beam that was headed for him, thinking he was about to meet his late comrades in the afterlife, when Kira moved his strike down at the last moment and simply sliced off the Duel's legs. "Forget about fighting and get the hell out of here," Kira shouted as he gave the Duel a hard kick in the back, knocking it towards the sea to be picked up by Slipstream's retreating form.

"Well you're quick, but not quick enough to out fly my missiles," Thundercracker chuckled until he was hit from the underside of his jet mode. "OW! Who did that?!"

"Leave the lad alone ya traitorous brat," Jetfire shouted as he flew around to block Thundercracker from aiming at the Freedom.

"I knew we should've snuffed your spark all those years ago back on Cybertron Jetfire," Thundercracker hollered.

"Well too bad for you then, cause now this lad's just as much under my protection as he is under the rest of the Autobots'."

"Ooo I'm shaking my boots," Thundercracker retorted sarcastically as he fired a missile barrage at Jetfire. It was not enough to hit the Aerialbot though, as he was able to shoot down all of Thundercracker's missiles before they even came close to him or Kira.

"You and your siblings always did shoot your mouths off more than you did your weapons…Thundercackle," Jetfire mocked.

"I've told you never to CALL ME THAT," Thundercracker shouted at hearing Jetfire's old insult for him as he fired a larger barrage of missiles.

"Is that supposed to scare me or something, Thundercackle," Jetfire shouted as he transformed and aimed his Thermo Rocket Cannon at all the missiles and the Seeker who shot them in an instant, and then blasted all of them out of the sky.

Skywarp was quick to swoop down and grab his brother in time to teleport them back to the _Havoc_, while Slipstream ordered the other Decepticon commanders to fall back to the ship as well. That was when Jetfire picked up on something he did not like at all. "Autobots, I've just detected a massive energy spike coming from the Alaska base! The Cyclops System has been activated," Jetfire shouted as he reassumed his jet mode and began to fly away from the impending blast radius.

"Engines to maximum! GET US OUT OF HERE," Murrue hollered.

"Autobots, return to _Omega II_ at once! Jazz divert all unnecessary power to the engines! GET THE SHIP TO SAFETY NOW," Optimus shouted.

As soon as the two commanders had given those orders, the ships had begun accelerating as fast as they could away from the battlefield with anyone who had not gotten aboard their respective ships blasting away at their top speed as well, and Kira using the Freedom to save a Z.A.F.T. pilot before his GINN fell into the sea near the blast radius. Thankfully the _Archangel_ and the _Omega II_ were able to get away in time with a number of forces from both sides, with no one but the Decepticons knowing that a certain masked Z.A.F.T. soldier in particular smirking in amusement at the apparent success of the Earth Forces' trap that none of the other Z.A.F.T. soldiers knew about.

A short while later, the _Archangel_, _Omega II_, the Sky Grasper, and the Freedom had all landed on the remains of the island that once held the headquarters of the Earth Alliance, with Jetfire touching down on the ground a moment later, and nearly everyone feeling that even though they had made it, they had just been dealt a terrible defeat. Kira was checking over the pilot he saved only for him to die a few minutes later.

Though not everyone was wallowing in this despair, as was evidenced by the fact that Bumblebee had flown down from the _Omega II_ onto the beach and raced over to the powered down Freedom in vehicle mode to see the pilot. As soon as he reached him and reassumed his robot mode, Bumblebee whirred out a question to Kira, who looked up and smiled as he answered, "Yeah Bee, it's really me."

The fact that Kira seemed to understand him seemed to reinforce that it was him for Bumblebee, but just to be sure the scout trilled something else out that he was sure that only Kira would be able to understand without guessing to which the young pilot replied, "Yeah I missed you to bud."

Now Bumblebee was convinced that it really was his friend, and he quickly knelt down to wrap a hand around Kira in the best hug that the scout could manage, which Kira happily returned, showing that despite the tragedy that had happened, one good thing had come about. The reunion of two best friends.

* * *

The PLANTs were abuzz with what had happened down at Alaska, as everyone raced around talking about it and trying to get answers as Athrun walked into the building with Dreadwing not far behind. Athrun then spotted someone he knew and called out to him to get answers of his own.

"Athrun Zala," the commander exclaimed in surprise. "What're you doing back here in the PLANTs?"

"I'll tell you but first what's going on," Athrun asked as Dreadwing approached from behind.

"Operation: Spitbreak seems to have failed," the commander told Athrun and Dreadwing. "We don't have the full details yet, but one initial report is saying…they were annihilated."

"You're kidding," Athrun exclaimed. His shock only matched by the fact that Dreadwing's usual emotionless mask had fallen by a small amount as well.

"I'm afraid I have one more piece of bad news for you," the commander then whispered to Athrun. "Somebody and we're not sure who yet, stole one of our top secret mobile suits. One of the new ones that the Decepticons were helping us to develop and they seem to have freed an Autobot prisoner who escaped with them."

"What prisoner," Dreadwing demanded. "I was not aware that we even had any Autobot prisoners, let alone one in the PLANTs."

"I'm not sure about any of those details as neither Megatron nor Soundwave are saying anything on the matter, but it seems that the person who gave the thief access to the mobile suit and helped to free the prisoner was Lacus Clyne. The National Defense Committee is in a state of panic."

Athrun gasped in shock as he dropped his brief case in surprise, while Dreadwing's mask fell completely at hearing this news and his shock became just evident as Athrun's. "It's not…it can't be," Athrun tried to reason. "I know Lacus. She wouldn't do this!"

Dreadwing did not want to believe it anymore than Athrun did, having spent so much time with the pink haired girl since he first met her, but it did not stop him from raising the questions that now plagued his processor. If it was true, then why did Lacus do it, and where was she now?

* * *

**_Kira: Well Cagalli is still fighting with the author, so what should we do?_**

**_Optimus: Perhaps we should ensure that Cagalli does not shoot him with that hunting weapon._**

**_Kira: Nah I wouldn't worry too much. It's pretty much turning out a lot like a Bugs Bunny cartoon, and if I'm assuming the roles are the way they seem to be, Cagalli's never gonna get him._**

**_Optimus: Why is that?_**

**_Kira: You don't watch a lot of cartoons do you Optimus? Elmer Fud never gets Bugs._**

**_Optimus: I see. Still this chapter seems to have turned out quite well._**

**_Kira: Yeah I'll say. Of course that raises a lot of questions about the new changes in the Freedom as well._**

**_Optimus: I believe that lyokoMARVELanime said he would go into further detail on that in the upcoming chapter, and would tell of how everyone was preparing for the upcoming battle for Orb as well._**

**_Kira: Of course we don't need to tell them that. The preview's got it covered..._**

**_[AN and Cagalli both freeze for a moment]_**

**_AN: Oh we at that point already? I got this. Onto the preview!..._**

**_Athrun and Dreadwing do all they can to find Lacus and get answers, and when they do they find that they're beginning to question their respective loyalties, as Athrun begins to see what has begun happening to his father, and Dreadwing learns a horrible truth that his lord and master had tried to hide from him. Meanwhile on Earth, everyone shares a great reunion with Kira and return to Orb where an overjoyed Cagalli greets both Arcee and the friend she thought that she had lost. What dangers now lie on the horizon as the Autobots and the _****Archangel****_'s crew prepare for a new battle, against a new foe that is now allied with Starscream's personal Decepticon forces, and can the return of old Autobot allies even the playing field for them? Next time on Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Prime…_****Chapter 23: Realization of Truths****_. Prepare for the dawn of your true battle on Earth Gundam and Autobots!_**

**_AN: Now that that's out of the way, where were we?_**

**_Cagalli: I was about to blast you!_**

**_AN: For shame girl. You've got this backwards. [fixes gun so that the barrel is pointed in Cagalli's face]_**

**_Cagalli: Oh thanks. [fires but ends up shooting herself]_**

**_AN: HAHAHAHA! Never gets old!_**

**_Cagalli: URGH! I'M GONNA BLAST YOU FOR THAT!_**

**_Kira: Aaaaaaand there they go again._**

**_Optimus: It would seem that they will be at this for a while. In the meantime..._**

**_Kira and Optimus: Please read and review, and we will see you next time!_**


	23. 23: Realization of Truths

**_[Sounds of something rattling and muffled screams coming from a closet can be heard.]_**

**_Murrue: Uh do I even want to know what is..._**

**_AN: The better question is, do you even need to ask who is tied up in there? There is no way I'm letting Cagalli out of there unless necessary._**

**_Murrue: You do know that is going to be quite often considering how often she is in this story right?_**

**_AN: Yeah I know, at which point I'll be having one of the two guys who she won't kill letting her out._**

**_Murrue: And that would be...?_**

**_AN: Uh Kira and Athrun of course, duh. Oh look sharp we're on. Hey everybody! Now while Cagalli is currently...uh indisposed...this chapter's special guest is the fearless, fearsome captain of the _Archangel_ herself, Murrue Ramius!_**

**_[Audience applause, closet screams muffled]_**

**_Murrue: Oh uh...thank you, thank you very much._**

**_[muffled screams and banging continue] AN: Sorry, but you're not getting out of there for a long time...Princess. [muffled scream of anger sounds out]_**

**_Murrue: Okay so before we go on, or before Cagalli finds a way out to murder the author..._**

**_AN: Hey show some confidence in a guy's plan!_**

**_Murrue: Let's answer some reviews. First is a guest review asking which version of Jetfire is the Jetfire of this story, and another guest review asks if Jetfire will have an Earth mode._**

**_AN: Ah yes. Well to answer the first question, the Jetfire of this story is most heavily based off of the version of Jetfire in Transformers War for Cybertron and Fall of Cybertron and as for the second one, well I don't want to give away spoilers, but I will say that question will be answered this chapter._**

**_Murrue: Next is a question asking if the Dinobots..._**

**_AN: Stop! Don't even finish that question! I will answer it more fully at the ending Authors Note. That being said, let's get things started!_**

**_Murrue: Oooookay. Anyhow...lyokoMARVELanime does not own anything from any of the Gundam or Transformers franchises or any other franchise mentioned in this story._**

* * *

**Chapter 23: Realization of Truths**

Everyone from both the _Archangel_ and the _Omega II_ stood on the desolated island that was once JOSH-A base looking towards the mysterious mobile suit that had helped saved them in silence after disembarking from the two ships. No one was entirely sure what to make of the machine or if they were simply imagining things when they heard Kira Yamato calling out to them from the winged mobile suit, and so they just stood there waiting for Bumblebee to walk back over to them with the mobile suit's pilot and the Autobot that they had identified as Jetfire not saying anything, with the only noise left to be heard being the waters lapping against the shore.

Finally, they all saw Bumblebee walking over to them with the Autobot flyer and the familiar face of their supposedly lost comrade. He was wearing a Z.A.F.T. pilot suit, but there was no mistaking the brown hair and purple eyes of the young man that was approaching them. Finally, after a short while, the two Autobots and Kira finally walked up and came to a stop in front of their friends as Kira smiled and broke the silence saying, "I guess we made it just in time."

"Is it really…you Kira," Murrue asked as she looked on in shock at the sight of seeing their friend who they had all thought to be dead.

Kira gave a small nod as he replied, "It's me. After all, aside from Cagalli how many other people do you know that can understand Bumblebee without being one of the Autobots?"

That statement was what finally did it, and what had prompted Miriallia to lead everyone in rushing over to their friend in happiness at seeing him alive to either place a hand on his shoulder in a gesture of welcoming him back or to ask him the ridiculous question of whether or not he was a ghost which led Jetfire and Bumblebee to chuckle at the notion. Even Sai had to give Kira a welcome back as he too stated that he was glad that he was still alive, which Kira truly appreciated.

Kira then looked to see the Autobots approaching, and walked over to meet them as Optimus knelt down and stated, "I am glad to see that you are still among us Kira Yamato. It is truly something to thank Primus for."

"Thanks Optimus. It's good to see all of you guys too," Kira stated with a smile as he extended a hand in thanks, which Optimus was only able to accept by extending one of his fingers.

After everyone had calmed down a bit, Kira then turned to Murrue and sighed as he asked, "I guess you've got about a couple million questions to ask me, don't you?"

"At least," Murrue chuckled.

"And there are a lot of things I want to ask you about too," Kira then told her.

"I'm sure there are."

"So were you with Z.A.F.T.," Mu finally asked as he walked over to Kira.

Kira looked between the _Archangel_ captain and his fellow pilot as he replied, "I was with them, but I haven't become a Z.A.F.T. soldier. However, I'm not with the Earth Forces now either."

Nearly everyone there was confused by that statement except for the Autobots, who all simply smiled and nodded in understanding of that. They all had a very strong hunch as to what Kira truly meant by that, because they knew exactly what Kira was saying he was. Finally Murrue smiled in understanding as well and stated, "I understand. There are some things we'll have to talk about though, starting with this machine. What should we do about that?"

Knowing she was referring to the Freedom, Kira glanced at his new mobile suit for a moment before responding, "If you're talking about maintenance and resupplying, there's no need for that right now, because this machine is equipped with an Energon Reactor Core , and it's the first mobile suit that was ever designed using Cybertronian technology."

"An Energon Reactor Core," Mu asked in surprise.

"Wait are you saying that thing is powered by energon," Jazz then gasped, thinking that it was impossible for humans to have been able to create such a machine so soon.

"If you start asking about specifics, unless it's one of the Autobots, you're not going to get anything from me and I'll have to leave, and even if I had to fight you I wouldn't let you take it from me," Kira stated with a dangerous undertone in his voice just to show he was serious. "I was entrusted with it, and I'll take care of it."

Everyone stood there in shock at just how serious Kira was, giving off the impression that he would sooner destroy the machine than let anyone else get their hands on it. Optimus then asked, "Just what can you tell us Kira?"

Kira looked at Optimus before stating, "Like I said, the Freedom Gundam is equipped with an Energon Reactor Core and that alone makes it much more powerful than most mobile suits we've seen thus far. From what I can tell, it's even more powerful than a mobile suit that's nuclear powered and that gives it a pretty strong edge on its own. Also the machine is equipped with the same metal that makes up a Cybertronian's armor which makes it much more difficult to damage in battle even against a beam weapon. Nothing short of a Cybertronian or another machine that was powered by an Energon Core Reactor with similar armaments could so much as scratch it. In a sense, it's Z.A.F.T.'s way around the N-Jammers."

At this information, everyone was completely shocked. A machine that was possibly more powerful than a nuclear powered device? Such a thing was completely unheard of until now, but when everyone stopped to think for a moment, they began to suppose that it was possible given that energon was the very thing that kept the Transformers alive and given what Optimus had told them, it was a very effective power source as well so to suggest that a mobile suit could be powered by something like this was not all that much of a stretch to be completely honest.

Finally, Murrue nodded as she gave Kira her word that they would leave the Freedom and all the equipment inside it alone. Kira thanked her for understanding and suggested that anything else should be discussed aboard one of the two ships to which everyone agreed. Before anyone could move to board one of the ships though, Wheeljack thought that one thing needed to cleared up right away as he turned to the lone Autobot flyer that had helped Kira save them. "So how'd you get here anyways Fire," Wheeljack finally asked.

Everyone turned to look at Jetfire as Wheeljack asked his question in anticipation of the answer, which Jetfire sighed at as he answered. "Well it's a long story lads, but I suppose I could try and give as short a version of it as I can."

"That would be appreciative Jetfire," Optimus assured him.

Jetfire nodded as he began his tale. "Well I suppose the battle at the portal aboard the _Ark_ is about as good a place to start as any. After the other Aerialbots and I had helped to send that oversized bugger Bruticus falling back to Cybertron, we found ourselves getting thrown around by the vortex's energy discharges until we ended up falling back down to Cybertron ourselves. When we came to, it turned out that we were not the only ones who had ended up staying behind on Cybertron for whatever reason. We found out that after we had landed, we were rescued by Grimlock and his team."

"Wait, wait. Hold up a cycle," Bulkhead interrupted. "I think you lost me for a second there. Did you say that you were rescued by Grimlock? As in the 'Bot with anger management issues that both Autobot and Decepticon should be in fear of, and who has at times made it seem like the Wreckers were just foot soldiers? The same 'Bot and team that we all had thought was taken down by a swarm of Insecticons?"

"Yeah it came as a shock to us too actually," Jetfire replied. "Apparently, the only one who didn't make it was Sludge, while the others were captured by Shockwave and the overgrown bugs. Sometime during their imprisonment, Shockwave used them for some sick experiments and changed them completely from what they were. From my understanding, they were altered into new forms that were based off of some of this world's prehistoric life forms. They actually ended up changing their team's name because of that, and they're now known as the Dinobots."

"Huh," Hound stated in shock. "Well good to know the big guy's still kicking, and you know I think I actually like that new name. It's actually a lot better than Lightning Strike Coalition Force."

"Yeah, apparently Swoop and Slug thought so too. Anyways, the whole thing ended up coming back to bite Shockwave when one of the guards made the mistake of stopping to mock Grimlock too much for too long. We all know Grimlock was tough before, and Shockwave made the mistake of making him even stronger, which led to him liberating the rest of the Dinobots and eventually, coming to save our tailpipes. A few days after we had woken up in their care though we found out a few things that had happened while we were out…"

* * *

_"__Shockwave is still alive," Jetfire exclaimed in shock._

_ "__And here I thought any 'Con dumb enough to cross you always ended up scrap. You're losing your touch Grimlock," a red and black Aerialbot with broad shoulders stated to the large, sword wielding, red visored leader of the Dinobots._

_ "__Shut it Air Raid," Grimlock snarled. "Shockwave not small, stupid drone or vehicon. He slip away with sneaky trick."_

_ "__Uh Grimlock, you sure you're okay," a silver Aerialbot with four wings extending from his back asked. "You're talking kind of strange."_

_ "__Shockwave made a bit of a mess with Grimlock's head in his experiments when he was trying to increase Grimlock's strength to match the power of his new form," replied the only flight capable Dinobot, Swoop._

_ "__Me, Grimlock fine," Grimlock snarled. "Just hard to think as well as used to."_

_ "__Okay if you say so," an all white Aerialbot with a gold chest, and large wings agreed in a surrendering gesture. _

_ "__Don't worry Wing Saber. Grimlock may not be as smart as he used to be, but he is definitely still able to know when and where to cut loose and who he should or shouldn't tear apart," a large Dinobot with red spikes on his leg reassured Wing Saber._

_ "__Thanks Snarl, that makes me feel so much better," Wing Saber flatly stated. Just then, the fourth and final Dinobot stumbled into the room, nearly falling on the fifth and final Aerialbot who actually looked a lot like Jetfire, except for the fact that his armor was blue in the places where Jetfire's was red._

_ "__Excuse me Jetstorm," the Dinobot, who had a pair of horns extending from his back and small blades extending from his arms apologized._

_ "__Hey don't sweat it Slug," Jetstorm replied._

_ "__Hey can we get back on topic please," Jetfire shouted._

_ "__Fire's right," Silverbolt agreed. "Grimlock, you were saying something about how Shockwave was left in charge during Megatron's absence?"_

_ "__Yeah, Shockwave lead while Megatron run to follow Optimus. Doing more experiments in lab, and using other captured Autobots to do so," Grimlock stated. "That not worst thing though."_

_ "__It gets worse than that," Silverbolt moaned._

_ "__Me, Grimlock and Dinobots find out Shockwave building new Space Bridge tower to try and reach world that first portal led to. He think he find Megatron if he rebuild tower. Has Combaticons guarding it."_

_ "__There's no way are we gonna let Shockwave get that thing operational right," Air Raid asked._

_ "__Well we weren't planning on doing nothing about it fly bomber," Swoop retorted._

_ "__Dinobots take down tower, flying Bots stay here and get better," Grimlock cut in._

_ "__No Grimlock wait a minute. Maybe we shouldn't stop Shockwave from using the tower to open a portal to that world," Silverbolt interjected._

_ "__Has your processor been completely fragged Silver," Wing Saber demanded. "If Shockwave gets that Space Bridge tower working, there's no telling what could happen to that world."_

_ "__Not if we're the ones who use it to reach that world," Silverbolt explained. "We can try to sneak in, steal a shuttle, and then use the portal to try and reach the world that Optimus and the _Ark_ were headed for. That way we can at least get the other Autobots some back up, because we all know that Megatron will have followed the _Ark_ all the way across space to any world that Optimus goes to."_

_ "__But we can't just let Shockwave keep that tower working," Snarl cut in. "I mean, we were lucky enough to stop him from keeping it for too long the last time he used it, and now you're saying we should let him use the thing just so we can go and help Optimus while Shockwave is left free to do whatever he wants with it?"_

_ "__Not necessarily," Silverbolt told him. "You'll be coming with us to, and once we're ready, you're going to do what you guys do best."_

_ "__Dinobots, smash tower," Grimlock asked._

_ "__You know it big guy, and this time you'll be making sure that he can't rebuild it."_

_ "__Me, Grimlock like puny Silverbolt plan."_

_ "__Well we'd better get some rest then lads. We won't be able to do any of that right now so I say we head out first thing in the morning," Jetfire stated sleepily._

_ "__Fine by Grimlock," Grimlock stated as he and the other Dinobots left for their own rooms in the make-shift base that they had set up._

* * *

"…so as soon as morning came, we headed out and made sure to do everything we could to make sure that Shockwave's tower stayed down this time, all the while Grimlock and his Dinobots were smashing and bashing away, keeping the 'Cons attention on them. As soon as the tower had opened a portal, we gave Grimlock the signal to put it out of commission for good and had immediately lifted off with him and the other Dinobots right behind us a few cycles later. Unfortunately we weren't the only ones who were headed that way, because somehow those buggers in the Combaticons had found a way to pursue us and were soon on us like a Scraplet on metal."

"We were able to fight them off long enough to get through, but what we didn't count on was the ship becoming seriously banged up along the way. Silverbolt then ordered all of us into escape stasis pods and had them programmed for this planet here in the hopes that we would be found by you guys, but something went wrong after mine was launched and I ended up being sent flying off to the _Nemesis_ instead where I was captured and imprisoned by Megatron. I was soon forced to help develop the Freedom there and was only able to even think of escaping with help from a girl named Lacus Clyne. That pretty much leads us up to where we are now," Jetfire concluded.

"Wait, what about this Grimlock and the other Dinobots," Mu asked.

"Honestly, I don't know what happened to the Dinobots after we went through the portal, but we all knew that they had made it through shortly after we did. We didn't have time to look for them before escaping our ship," Jetfire stated sadly.

"There is no need to worry Jetfire. If Grimlock was able to survive Shockwave's experimentations, then I am certain that he is still out there somewhere, and I have a hunch that he and the 'Dinobots' are actually somewhere on this world. If the other Aerialbots were able to make it here, then there should be little reason to doubt that Grimlock and his team did as well, but there will be time to look for them later. Right now we have much more pressing matters to discuss," Optimus stated. Everyone agreed with Optimus on that, and soon moved to board the _Omega II_ so that they could all plan their next move together.

* * *

Meanwhile, the PLANTs were in an uproar, or more specifically, the officials in the PLANTs were in an uproar over the theft of the Freedom and the fact that the Clyne family was nowhere to be found. After Athrun had confronted his father on the matter, he was shocked to hear his father accuse some of the other PLANT supreme council members of aiding the Clynes in this alleged crime, and the fact that Chairman Zala had agreed with Megatron's suggestion of doing whatever it took to hunt down the Clynes and having the justice department detain the council members that were in support of Former Chairman Clyne did not help Athrun's feelings on the matter.

For some reason, the fact that Operation: Spitbreak had appeared to have been leaked gave Chairman Zala reason to believe that Clyne had betrayed them while Lacus aided an enemy spy in stealing the Freedom and freeing the Autobot prisoner that Dreadwing had later found out to be the Aerialbot known as Jetfire. Athrun had made it clear to his father that he was still having a hard time believing that Lacus had lent assistance to a spy, but when Chairman Zala showed him surveillance footage of Lacus with the thief and Jetfire, Athrun found he was starting to believe it a little.

Chairman Zala thought that these facts, along with the fact that Lacus was now being treated as a fugitive charged for treason, led it to have to go without saying that Lacus was no longer Athrun's fiancé, though it did not mean that it was not still shocking to Athrun. Zala then told Athrun that his next mission was for him and Dreadwing to track down and either recover or destroy the stolen Freedom and eliminate its pilot, along with everything he had come into contact with. When Athrun asked why, his father told him it was because that the Freedom, like the new machine that Athrun was being given was powered by an Energon Reactor Core and was the result of combining Cybertronian technology with that of Z.A.F.T.

When Athrun found out that the Energon Reactor Core technology was even more powerful than nuclear technology, he was quick to protest, but his arguments were shot down and considered meaningless considering that the technology had already been developed and so many thought that they would need the technology in order to win the war. Athrun was actually glad to hear that any thoughts of developing N-Jammer cancellers were halted the minute that Z.A.F.T. had learned of energon, but it still did nothing to make him feel better about the fact that his new machine, the X09-A Justice, was more dangerous than the nuclear technology that the PLANTs had elected to abandon.

That was actually a few hours ago, and now Athrun and Dreadwing were both standing on the grounds of the Clyne estate, or what was left of it anyway. Were it not for the fact that there was little to no dust in the building, the broken windows and overall ruined state of the place would have led Athrun to think that the home was abandoned for years.

"What exactly are we doing here Athrun," Dreadwing asked. "It was made clear to your father and you that the investigation team Chairman Zala sent here did not find anything and that Clyne seemed to have set up an escape route."

"I know Dreadwing," Athrun stated solemnly. "But still, I feel like I might find something here that might help me understand why Lacus would do something like this."

Dreadwing gave Athrun a sad, understanding nod at this and proceeded to try and find something himself when the two of them heard something rustling in the bushes nearby. The two were instantly on guard when they saw that the source was actually a familiar pink, spherical robot that they knew all too well bouncing along one of the paths.

"Haro," Athrun called out as he chased after the little robot. That got the robot's attention, as was evidenced by how Haro instantly turned around and bounced back to Athrun, into his hands. Athrun gazed at Haro for a moment as he gave a few beeps in greeting and saw that the poor little guy was covered in dirt, suggesting that he had been left out there for some time now, when he noticed the flowers that were nearby.

"What is it Athrun," Dreadwing asked when he saw Athrun had adopted a nostalgic look.

"Oh nothing it's just…" Athrun stated before pausing for a moment. "I remember Lacus telling me about these flowers. She said they came from the theater where she first sang in public. She said that they were something to remember it by."

Dreadwing simply gave a short "I see" in response to this before the two gazed at the flowers together, both completely confused about why Lacus would have done all of this. They were eventually brought out of there musing when Haro called out, "Haro fine! And so are you."

That was when Athrun suddenly gasped in surprise as he realized something he felt he should have before. "Dreadwing, I need a lift!"

"Why? What is it," Dreadwing asked.

"I think I know where Lacus is," Athrun stated with confidence. That was all the prompting Dreadwing needed to assume his jet mode and open the hatch so that Athrun could climb aboard with Haro in his hand. A moment later, Dreadwing was taking off for the place that Athrun believed to be where Lacus was.

* * *

It turned out that Athrun had led them to the exact same theater he was just telling Dreadwing about, a fact that was only reinforced to Athrun after what Haro had said. As soon as they had arrived and Dreadwing landed, Athrun had climbed out into the rain that had started coming down while they were flying there, allowing the blue and gold Decepticon to transform to robot mode. The two then made their way inside, Athrun through the front entrance and Dreadwing through another entrance that he could actually fit through.

As soon as Athrun had walked in, he almost immediately heard a familiar singing voice ring out through the theater, singing a new song he did not recognize but understood the meaning of clearly. It was a song that spoke of a never-ending hope for peace, and prayed that the day that it was achieved would soon come. Even though it made him pause for a moment, it did not stop Athrun from continuing on with what he intended to do.

Athrun then made his way into the theater as quietly as he could, until finally, he saw Lacus herself sitting on the some rumble of the stage as she sang. Athrun then intended to make his way towards her as quietly as he could, but had that plan shot down as soon as Haro called out to Lacus and bounced into her lap.

When Lacus saw her dear little friend had hopped into her hands, she could not help but smile as she greeted him and then turn to face Athrun as she stated, "I was certain that you'd be the one to find him and bring him here Athrun. Thank you very much."

Athrun stood there staring at the pink songstress for a moment before he felt that he could not take it anymore and immediately demanded, "Why Lacus?"

"Why what," Lacus asked in an innocent tone that was matched by a similar look on her face.

Athrun was not about to let her just beat around the bush and immediately jumped up onto the stage so that they were directly in front of one and other with his side arm in plain sight. "Explain yourself. What've you done," Athrun then repeated.

Lacus just gave a small shrug as she stated, "I'm sure you've heard all about it, and that's why you came to see me isn't it? Well you and Dreadwing that is."

Immediately after she had said that, Dreadwing stepped out of the shadows with his cannon in hand and at the ready. "I see that you are far more perceptive than I ever realized Lacus Clyne," Dreadwing commented.

"Why thank you Dreadwing," Lacus stated happily.

"Is it true what they're saying about you," Athrun then demanded, getting them back on track. "That you're guilty of providing assistance to an enemy spy?! How could you do that?"

"I did not provide assistance to an enemy spy." That statement Lacus gave started to confuse Athrun greatly, but at the same time gave him some relief. That is, until Lacus told him something that Athrun was not expecting at all. "All I did was decide to provide Kira with a newer, better sword, because I felt he had need of it now, and it would ultimately serve its purpose best in Kira's hands. As for Jetfire, he didn't ever need my help escaping, because he had already been doing so for some time now without anyone even noticing. All he did was act as both a guide and support for Kira when he left that last time."

"Kira," Athrun gasped. He then mentally shook off the shock of what Lacus had said before he started to get angry. "What're you talking about Lacus? Kira's gone! I…"

"Killed him with your own hands," Lacus interrupted, shocking Athrun even more. Lacus then gave an understanding smile as she told him, "Don't look so worried. It's true, Kira's still alive."

"You're lying! What kind of trick are you trying to pull now Lacus Clyne," Athrun shouted as he did something that he thought he would never do. He aimed his gun right at Lacus. "What you're saying is crazy. It's impossible. There's no way he could be alive!"

Lacus simply continued to smile as she explained, "Reverend Malchio found him and brought him to me, and then I learned about what happened between you two. Kira told me. Don't you believe what I'm telling you? Do you even believe what you've seen with your own eyes? On the battlefield, or now that you've returned to the PLANTs after being away for quite some time. Haven't you noticed things are different?"

Athrun found himself hesitating as he thought about what Lacus was saying, and could not help but admit to himself that what she was saying was true. Things were different in the PLANTs since he had returned, and his father seemed to have changed quite a great deal as well, and not for the better. Athrun felt almost as though he did not quite recognize his own father anymore.

Seeing that Athrun had begun thinking about what she was saying, Lacus continued by asking, "What is it you believe in? What is it you're fighting for now? Is it for that medal you received, or your father's orders?"

Athrun found that he could not ignore the way Lacus was speaking to him. It was not with anger, it was more like terrible, terrible disappointment. "Because if that is so, you'll likely find yourself fighting Kira as his enemy again, and you'll be fighting me too. So if I am to be your enemy then you might as well shoot me now, Athrun Zala soldier of Z.A.F.T."

Athrun found that under that stern gaze Lacus held, and with the way she just referred to him as, he could no longer hold his emotions back or even hold his gun up as his shoulders shook with sadness, and he found himself more confused than ever on what he really should be doing. Dreadwing then attempted to snap him out of it by stating, "Don't listen to her Athrun! She's just trying to mess with your head."

"I am not trying to do any such thing Dreadwing," Lacus then rounded on him, and Dreadwing found that he himself was somewhat fearful of the pink songstress himself. It was not that he was afraid her exactly, but more of how she seemed to be preparing to give him a talking to like she had just done with Athrun. However, Lacus then adopted a look of pity as she held out a small blue card to Dreadwing.

"Where did you get that," Dreadwing whispered.

"Jetfire found this and gave it to me shortly before he left, because he knew that I would be able to get it to you," Lacus explained. "On this data card is information concerning something that Megatron had decided to hide from you. It's about your brother, and how your lord and master had disgraced him more than the Autobots ever could, and how Optimus Prime and the other Autobots righted the wrong."

"No you're…that's not true. It can't be," Dreadwing tried to insist, but all the same he could not hide that he was trying to restrain himself from reaching out and taking the data card.

"It is true Dreadwing," Lacus insisted. "This was taken from a private storage server that belongs to Soundwave himself, and Jetfire had only found it after doing weeks of hacking without anyone knowing, further risking his freedom to do so. Please Dreadwing, before you do anything else, you need to see this."

Dreadwing looked at the pink haired girl for a moment, before he found he could no longer stop himself, and reached out to accept the data card. As soon as it left Lacus's hand, it grew to a larger size that would be more appropriate for a Cybertronian to easily carry it in. Before anything more could be said though, a secret service team ran in, armed with weapons and surrounded the three, revealing that Athrun and Dreadwing were being followed ever since they had left Chairman Zala's office, since they knew Lacus's ex-fiancé would know her best enough to know where to look for her.

Before any of their potential attackers could make a move on them though, after revealing that they were authorized to use lethal force if necessary, someone shot at one of them, killing him instantly. Dreadwing instinctively reacted along with Athrun, as Athrun pulled Lacus behind some cover while Dreadwing used his own body to act as a shield for the two.

When the shooting finally stopped, a man in a green Z.A.F.T. uniform, with dark skin and red hair stepped out and asked, "Ready Miss Lacus?"

"You're DaCosta," Dreadwing gasped, recognizing the former second-in-command of Andrew Waltfeld.

"Well you're pretty sharp aren't you," a female voice then stated. Dreadwing turned to see a woman with long dark hair that had orange highlights step into the light as well. The woman in question wore a blue shirt and dark colored pants with the Z.A.F.T. symbol on the right sleeve of the shirt, but the most notable thing about her was that both of her arms were robotic prosthetics with clear Cybertronian origin.

"You really should have stayed behind Aisha," DaCosta stated.

"After being cooped up for so long, you can't really resist any chance to stretch your legs," Aisha retorted. DaCosta just shrugged in response to this, finding himself unable to argue that logic.

"Thank you both so much Athrun and Dreadwing," Lacus told the two with a true, grateful smile.

"Are you finished Miss Lacus," Aisha asked. "I think we should get going as well."

"And Reverend Malchio," Lacus asked.

"He was able to take off safely."

Lacus nodded at this and then turned to Athrun and Dreadwing with one final thing to say. "Goodbye Athrun, Dreadwing. Thank you both for bringing my dear Pink back to me." She then paused for a moment to allow the two a moment to simply nod before stating, "Athrun, you'll find Kira on Earth. I suggest that you have a talk with him. He is your friend, and Dreadwing, once you've seen what's on that data card, I suggest you try to have a talk with the Autobots, or at least with Optimus. You'll find that you actually owe him a great deal."

Athrun and Dreadwing could both only stand there and watch as Lacus left with DaCosta and Aisha, neither one of them knowing what to say and both of them now unsure of many things. As he watched the three disappear, Dreadwing's gaze drifted to the data card that Lacus had given him, wondering just what was on it that would give him reason to owe anything to Optimus Prime.

* * *

After everyone had boarded the _Omega II_ to discuss their plans, it was agreed that everyone thought it was obvious that if the two ships headed to Panama to join up with the rest of the fleet, then they would all be branded as either traitors or deserters simply because they knew too much. It did not help matters saying it aloud, but it still had to be said. Finally, Kira had spoken up asking everyone what they thought they should be fighting, and saying whatever that thing was, then they should start fighting against it now.

Another thing that everyone agreed on was that the Decepticons were now without a doubt the one enemy they knew for certain that they had to fight since they seemed to be everywhere, a fact reinforced when Jetfire revealed that the 'Cons had a rumor going around about them having a spy within the Earth Forces and Blue Cosmos. As for the identity of said spy, everyone could only guess, but they figured that Starscream was an unlikely candidate given his history and what had transpired and decided that whoever it was most likely had a connection to Soundwave somehow. Though that did not help them in solving the mystery.

In the end, Kira suggested that they travel to Orb, since it seemed to be the only safe haven they have had at this point and since there was also an Autobot base there with Ratchet and Ironhide waiting for them. With that decided, the two ships had set off as soon as the _Archangel_'s crew had boarded their ship once more, and within little to no time at all, they were soon being escorted into the same secret hangars that the two ships had used the last time they were in Orb.

As soon as the two ships had docked, Kira found himself wandering the hallways of the _Archangel_, wondering what would happen now that they were actually here. He figured that Optimus would be going to meet with Ratchet and Ironhide as soon as he finished meeting with Lord Uzumi along with Murrue, but beyond that he did not really know. He did not have much time to think on any of that though when someone called out, "Kira!"

Kira immediately paused in his stroll and turned around to see who had called him, only to find himself getting tackled to the ground by someone as they wrapped him in a hug. "You are such an idiot," the person told Kira as she pounded on his chest, and he instantly recognized the voice of the person. As he opened his eyes he saw that it was indeed Cagalli who was now lying on top of him looking down at him with an angry look that did not hide just how happy she was to see he was alive. "You're just…you're so…" Cagalli stuttered as she started crying into Kira's chest. "I never thought I'd see you again! How could you do that to me!"

Kira just gave a small smile as he allowed Cagalli a moment to let it all out before finally saying, "Sorry."

Cagalli raised her head to meet Kira's smiling face with her own tear stained one as she quietly asked, "So you're…really alive?"

_I'm going to be hearing people ask me that a lot for a while aren't I,_ Kira thought to himself as his smile grew a little while he replied, "Yeah I'm alive, and I did come back."

Cagalli just smiled at him for a little while longer until she finally realized the position the two were in and quickly got off of Kira, with a small blush on her face. The two then figured they should talk and they ended up doing so in the hangar right in front of the Freedom along with Arcee, who had taken a Ground Bridge from the _Omega II_ to the _Archangel_ when she heard that Cagalli was aboard the latter. The reunion between the two girls was much more subdued than the one that Kira and Cagalli had for obvious reasons.

"I see," Kira said later on in the conversation that the three had. "So you talked to Athrun?"

"Yeah. We'd gone out searching for you, but we found him instead," Cagalli replied. "He was devastated. Kept crying and saying how he'd been the one who killed you."

"And you were making fun of me having a relationship with Bumblebee, yet first chance you get you decide to hook up with the big, tough Z.A.F.T. pilot that we met on that island," Arcee smirked.

Cagalli's face went crimson at that comment. "Arcee! It wasn't like that!"

"Sure, you just wanted to find out what happened to Kira, that's why you gave him a good luck charm that would keep him alive," Arcee retorted, still smirking.

Cagalli's face was doing a better impression of a tomato by the minute at Arcee's teasing, clearly not missing that the tough femme Autobot was getting payback for all the times the blonde had teased her for being in a relationship with Bumblebee, when Kira cut in. "There was another battle before that where I killed his friend, and then he killed Tolle. There was no other option for me, and I'm sure for Athrun as well."

Cagalli and Arcee both stared at Kira in quiet shock for a moment before the blonde turned to gaze at the Freedom before speaking again. "You'd been friends since you were kids, right?"

Kira smiled at Cagalli when she asked that. "As long as I've known him, Athrun's always been a loyal friend, and I could count on him to help me out."

"You must've known that eventually you'd end up having to fight him, so what made you decide to stick with the Earth Forces? I mean, because after all you are a Coordinator, so it seems pretty stupid to stay knowing that sooner or later you'd have to fight your friend," Cagalli asked.

Kira looked down in thought for a moment trying to decide how to best answer, when Arcee answered for him. "I'm guessing it was for a similar reason as to why Optimus stuck with the Autobots knowing he would eventually have to fight someone he once considered a brother."

Kira nodded as he replied. "Yeah I thought if I didn't, my other friends would die, so I did it because I am a Coordinator." Kira paused for a moment as he turned to face the Freedom. "Truth is…the honest truth is I guess I never honestly believed that I would have to kill Athrun, or that Athrun might have to kill me."

Cagalli and Arcee both looked at Kira sadly for a moment after hearing that, until Arcee stated, "Optimus felt the same way the first few times he met Megatron on the battle field, but the difference between that and how it is with you and Athrun, is that Megatron was always brutal right from the start and one could only try to seriously kill you so many times before you finally realize that you have to do the same, like how it was with Optimus. I'm sure Optimus has already said this, but there is still hope for you and Athrun to patch things up, and I have a feeling that you definitely will."

Kira nodded to Arcee in thanks for that, and the three stood there for another moment in silence before Bumblebee walked in to tell Kira something that the scout thought he should hear.

* * *

Sometimes Miriallia thought that she could be too nice to people, and this was one of those times. After the brown haired girl had noticed that a pair of food trays had not been claimed yet, she found out that they were actually for the _Archangel_'s prisoners, Dearka and Nicol, and so she found herself taking the trays to the two herself. That was why she was in the brig right now walking towards the two cells.

"Dinner time," Miriallia called out as she slid the trays into the slot at the bottom of the doors, stirring both Coordinators from their naps. "Things got a bit crazy. Sorry for the delay."

They both sat up and while Nicol actually claimed his food tray, saying thanks as he did, Dearka just sat on his bed staring at Miriallia for a moment, a fact that the girl noticed pretty quickly. "What is it," Miriallia demanded.

"Uh nothing," Dearka replied with a smile. "I guess I'm a little surprised to see that you're the one who brought it honey."

"Honey," Miriallia shouted in annoyance.

"Dearka, you do remember that this is the same girl who tried to stab you earlier because of your big mouth a little while back right," Nicol sternly reminded his blonde friend.

"Sorry, I meant no insult ma'am," Dearka quickly stated while throwing a side glare to Nicol.

"I told you Dearka, my name's Miriallia and that I don't want you calling me ma'am," Miriallia reminded him.

"So…it's okay for me to call you by your name now," Dearka asked with a hopeful tone.

"Ugh, no," Miriallia snapped as she spun on her heel to leave, only to be stopped by a smirking Coordinator in blue Earth Forces uniform.

"If she's getting annoyed with you like this, it usual means that it is okay for you to call her by her name," Kira told Dearka.

"Kira! Don't say weird stuff like that," Miriallia snapped.

"What's so weird about it?" Before Kira could get any further, he noticed that Dearka and Nicol were both staring at him in surprise. "What," Kira asked.

"Nothing it's just, I figured I wouldn't run into you again, especially after that last battle we had," Dearka stated, leading Nicol to give him a confused look. "How'd you even know we were down here?"

"A little bee told me," Kira replied, leading everyone but Nicol to chuckle at his little joke after a moment, while meanwhile Bumblebee had let out the Cybertronian equivalent of a sneeze.

"Uh Dearka, do you know this guy," Nicol finally asked. That seemed to put a slight damper on the mood, as everyone was suddenly unsure about what to say in response.

In the end Dearka did answer the question by simply saying, "Yeah Nicol. This guy's Kira."

Nicol gasped in surprise at this, and then looked back at Kira in surprise as he realized that he was actually now face to face with Athrun's old friend and the guy who had killed Jaylen. Nicol was not sure what to say and barely even registered Dearka introducing Kira to him until Kira walked up so that both of them could see him well enough and stated, "You guys both have pretty good reasons to hate me, but even if it doesn't mean much, I still want to apologize for everything."

"Hey don't worry about it," Dearka waved him off. "I know you didn't mean to do it, and after meeting you in the cave with Athrun I could tell that you'd never kill without reason or unless it was an accident."

Kira nodded in thanks to the blonde and then turned to see what Nicol would say. At that point, Nicol had finally come out of his shock, and surprisingly, gave Kira a small smile as he stated, "It's alright. It's not like I knew you at the time, but I've got to say, you're actually not quite what I had been expecting you to be like."

"What do you mean," Kira asked.

"Well when Athrun was telling me about you, somehow I had pictured you being a little bit bigger and with some of the usual physical signs of being a workaholic."

"Why does everyone say that about me," Kira muttered under his breath, getting everyone to laugh, only this time at his expense.

"Say can I ask you something Mister Yamato," Nicol asked.

"Sure, but you can just call me Kira."

Nicol nodded before continuing. "I was wondering if you could tell me his name." At Kira's confused glance, Nicol elaborated, "The name of the Autobot that had saved me in that battle. I want to know so I can properly thank him if I get a chance."

Kira smiled and told him, "His name is Bumblebee, Autobot scout of Team Prime."

Nicol smiled at that for a moment, before he burst out laughing a bit, finally getting what Kira meant when he had said that a little bee had told him. The four continued to talk for a minute, with Kira and Miriallia informing the two Z.A.F.T. pilots that they were currently in Orb and that there was nothing they could do about their current imprisonment at the moment, and Nicol and Dearka getting to know Kira a bit better, until Kira was contacted by Bumblebee who said that Optimus and Lord Uzumi wanted to speak with him, the other Autobots, Mu, and Murrue at the Autobots' base. With that Kira bade the three goodbye and quickly headed off to the hangar where the two former Earth Forces commanders and Cagalli were waiting by an open Ground Bridge for him.

* * *

"I cannot believe this," Ratchet muttered. "A Cyclops System is bad enough, but this one had elements of raw energon in it to give it the added bonus of being even more potent to humans while also being potent to Cybertronians as well."

"Yes I agree," Lord Uzumi stated from the raised platform that he, Kisaka, Mu, Murrue, Kira, and Cagalli now all stood upon in the Autobot base with all the Autobots. "Even if the details of the enemy's invasion plan were leaked, that still seems like a rather extreme course of action to take."

"However, you can't deny that what happened in Alaska eliminated eighty percent of Z.A.F.T.'s fighting strength with one blow, along with a large number of Megatron's Decepticon forces. To the people who planned this, it was just a logical calculation, and sacrificing unwanted forces to accomplish this was an added bonus."

"And here is the result," Ratchet finished as he turned one of the monitors in the base to a news channel. As soon as he had, they all heard the person speaking about how the destruction of JOSH-A was a "terrible loss" and how despite the fact that it would forever be a day marked in history they would not submit to the "arrogant Coordinators" in order to protect the Earth in what was basically an entire anti-Coordinator tirade. Finally one of the Autobots had heard enough, and immediately blasted the monitor, ending any further listening of the program.

"Bulkhead," Ratchet shouted as he turned to the big green Wrecker.

"Whoa, hey, don't look at me Doc! I may do stuff like that a lot, but this time it was not me," Bulkhead shouted in protest.

"Well then who did," Ratchet demanded.

All three Wreckers replied at once as the pointed at the culprit. "He did it!"

Everyone looked to see Bumblebee with his blaster pointed at the now destroyed monitor, and upon seeing everyone looking at him, the scout simply shrugged and whirred out something in his defense that Mu immediately asked someone to translate for those who could not understand him.

Cagalli answered saying, "Bumblebee said, and I quote, 'What? We were all thinking of doing it, I just decided to actually step up and do it.'."

"Even so Bumblebee, we needed that," Ratchet whined in the usual tone he used whenever he said that line.

Kira looked to Lord Uzumi and asked, "Lord Uzumi, did we really still need that?"

"For this meeting, no I don't think so, but afterwards the Autobots might have. Of course I'm only guessing to be honest," Lord Uzumi replied.

"I guess Mister Murdoch was right to start thinking that Ratchet's started saying that on impulse," Kira then chuckled, and was soon joined in his chuckling by Cagalli.

"I understand why it's happening, but it's sure tough to swallow," Mu commented, getting everyone back on track.

"To go along with the tone of its rhetoric, the Atlantic Federation has been increasing its political pressure on all the neutral nations. They're being told that any state that refuses to join the alliance will subsequently be considered an enemy nation. Of course, our own nation of Orb is no exception," Lord Uzumi then revealed.

Cagalli scowled at the fact she knew what the Atlantic Federation was really after was Orb's power as her father continued, "I'm sure you are all aware of this, but our nation does not refuse entry to Coordinators. We are one of the few countries that will allow anyone to enter and reside within our boarders as long as they uphold the ideals and laws of our state. We believe that no one should be judged by whether his or her genes have been engineered. The only thing that labeling a person as either a Coordinator or a Natural does is create friction between people." Lord Uzumi then turned to Cagalli and Kira and smiled as he stated, "Cagalli is a Natural, and Kira, of course is a Coordinator. These are facts that they have absolutely no control over, and yet they are still good friends."

Kira smiled and immediately agreed with the former chief representative of Orb on what he was saying, which prompted Uzumi to continue. "I cannot support the policies of the Atlantic Federation, because it labels every Coordinator as evil and an enemy, insisting on attacking them for that biased reason alone. Who is really fighting who here, and what is the real reason behind it?"

"But sir, I understand the point of what you're saying, and excuse me for arguing, but isn't your position kind of idealistic," Mu pointed out. "Those all sound like wonderful ideas, but Coordinators will continue to look down on Naturals, and in turn Naturals will be jealous of Coordinators. That's just the way things are."

"I am aware of that," Lord Uzumi assured him. "It goes without saying that our nation has difficulty living up to this, but if we gave up on trying to improve our situation then in the end we'd be left with no other choice but to eliminate each other. At that point it would be too late to do anything but reflect and regret what had passed. My friends, you would suggest that we keep silent and let this happen because that is what the rest of the world is doing would you?"

Everyone paused for a moment to think that over for a moment before Lord Uzumi turned to everyone in the room who was still wearing the Earth Forces uniform. "From this point you can choose your own course in life. I can understand if you still feel loyalty to those whose uniform you wear, but you're all young and capable. Make your decisions carefully, and be sure to choose the future you truly desire. There's still time."

"I agree with Lord Uzumi," Optimus stated, getting everyone's attention as he carried on. "From where I stand, many of Orb's ideals actually coincide with those of the Autobots in some senses. While we do consider the Decepticons to be our enemy, that does not mean that we would turn them away should any of them decide that they wish to join our cause, because even after all this time, freedom is still something that the Autobots stand for. While that is the case, Megatron stands as the greatest opposition to those ideals, and it would not be all that surprising if he would consider anyone such as those of Orb to be an enemy, which is why to this day we still carry on our war with the Decepticons, and it has become more and more clear that the only way for the war for Cybertron to end would be if Megatron's existence were to end."

"Do you really believe that Optimus Prime," Lord Uzumi asked. "Do you really believe that one who you called brother must be sacrificed in order for peace to be obtained?"

"I did not always Lord Uzumi. In fact there are still days that I wish that Megatron would see the error of his ways, but after eons of conflict one can only hold onto such hopes for so long, especially when given the horrors and atrocities that Megatron has condoned to happen. Nevertheless, the facts still remain the same. So long as the Decepticons seek to rule through domination, fear, and conflict, the Autobots shall never stop fighting them. I myself still believe that freedom is the right of all sentient beings, and that is something that I will give my life to defend."

As everyone looked around the room, they could see that all the other Autobots shared the same conviction in that belief as their leader, and Lord Uzumi himself could not help but smile at how much like the true warriors of Orb the Autobots seemed to be. "And what's your view on this Lord Uzumi," Kira then asked.

Lord Uzumi looked to Kira, gauging the conviction that was held within Kira's eyes before stating, "I believe that we're entering a time when our swords can no longer simply be for display."

That response brought a small smile to Kira's face, along with Optimus and the other Autobots' faces as well. Cagalli did not quite understand the reason for this at first, but once she did she could not help but give a small smile as well. With that, Lord Uzumi allowed everyone to leave and rest up for the night saying that he and the Autobots would notify the _Archangel_ crew of any news they would have by tomorrow, concluding their meeting for now.

* * *

The following morning's news was not the kind of news anyone on the _Archangel_ were hoping to hear. It turned out that Z.A.F.T. launched an attack on Panama which led to the Earth Forces being slaughtered, and their Mass Driver destroyed. Despite the fact that Earth Forces had tried to match them with their new mobile suit core, composed of Strike Daggers, they stood no chance when Z.A.F.T. used a powerful EMP bomb to destroy any chance they had at resistance.

Despite all of this, Kira was still determined to fight even if he were to do so alone. When Mu asked him if he was sure of his decision, Kira told him that he believed as long as he did the best he could, that was all he could really hope for. He then went on to say that while things did seem desperate Kira did not believe that this was the way to make them better. After hearing him say that, Optimus reassured Kira that as long as the he continued along the same path as the Autobots, Kira would never be fighting alone, to which Kira was extremely grateful.

As soon as that conversation had finished, Cagalli had come to tell Kira that Erica Simmons wanted to see him ASAP and that she had something important to show him, which led him, Mu, Cagalli, Murrue, Optimus, Jetfire, Bumblebee, Elita, and Bulkhead to where they were now, traveling through the mobile suit development lab with Erica and Ironhide leading the way. "Now that you're back, I thought I should return this to you," Erica told Kira as they finally reached their destination.

Kira gasped in surprise as he saw the familiar form of the Strike, completely rebuilt as though it were never destroyed to begin with. "After the repairs were done, I installed the new OS you wrote for us, because…well because I figured someone else would be piloting it."

"The OS designed for Naturals," Elita asked, just to make sure she understood correctly.

"Yeah that's the one," Ironhide stated. "And then I made some modifications to the equipment packs that it uses until I was able to combine them all into one, which I call the Perfect Striker pack. When equipped, it will allow this machine to become the Perfect Strike Gundam."

"Well it sounds like you've certainly been busy Ironhide," Jetfire commented.

"He's not the only one," a voice stated. The Autobots all turned with Jetfire to see that it was a 'Bot who looked almost exactly like Jetfire except for the fact he had blue on his armor where Jetfire's had red, along with three other Autobots as well that all looked like flyers. They were all 'Bots that Jetfire and the others present instantly recognized.

"Jetstorm, Air Raid, Wing Saber, Silverbolt, you're all okay," Jetfire exclaimed.

"Good to see you're doing alright to brother," Jetstorm stated.

Silverbolt then approached Optimus and saluted saying, "Silverbolt and the Aerialbots reporting for duty Optimus Prime, sir."

"At ease Silverbolt. It is good to see you are all doing well," Optimus welcomed.

"Oh we're doing better than well sir. In fact we're new and improved," Air Raid boasted. To demonstrate, he quickly assumed his vehicle mode, which turned out to be a heavy artillery jet fighter. Following his lead, Wing Saber and Silverbolt did the same with the former turning into a similar jet as Air Raid except with a slightly larger wing span, and the latter turning into a space shuttle. The only one who did not do so was Jetstorm.

"Whoa, you've all got Earth forms now," Bulkhead whistled.

"Well not all of them," Ironhide stated. "Jetstorm stated that he wanted to be sure he and Jetfire had the same vehicle mode like they always did so he elected to wait until Fire showed up."

"Well then I guess we'd better get hunting for new vehicle modes then, because that's the same reason why I held off scanning an Earth mode for myself," Jetfire stated.

"I hope one of you has something in mind then," Elita commented.

"Actually I do," Jetfire stated.

"Before that, don't you guys think we should figure out who'll pilot the Strike now," Bulkhead cut in.

"I'll pilot it," Cagalli stated. "I mean, if that's okay with you that is."

"I'm afraid you can't," Mu told her. "Because I will."

"Commander," Murrue started, but Mu cut her off with a smile.

"That doesn't apply to me anymore now does it, Miss Murrue," Mu stated. Murrue just stared at him for a moment before smiling and giving him a nod to go ahead.

"Well if Mu's going to be piloting the Strike that might actually work out well for us," Jetfire stated. At everyone's confused glances, Jetfire looked at Murrue and asked, "Do you mind if Storm and I see the Sky Grasper?"

At Murrue's nod to go ahead, Ironhide decided to save them all a trip and had Ratchet open a Ground Bridge to bring the fighter plane to them. As soon as the Sky Grasper had come through, with Mu piloting it one last time, the Bridge closed and Jetfire and Jetstorm both nodded to each other before they both locked their gazes upon the plane. The next thing everyone saw was a blue scanning beam emit from each of their eyes one after the other, and sweep over the Sky Grasper. Once the scan had finished, the two Aerialbot brothers transformed into their new vehicle modes, each of them now being a Sky Grasper, with Jetfire's being red and white, while Jetstorm was blue and white like the Sky Grasper usually was.

"You know, I actually kind of figured that Jetfire would want his new Earth mode to be something like the Sky Grasper, and it actually seems to work for both of them," Kira commented with a chuckle. Everyone had to chuckle in agreement with that as well.

A short while afterwards, Mu was now in the new Perfect Strike on the mobile suit testing field of Morgenroete, ready for his first round of sparring practice, squaring off against his two sparring partners. "You know, I can't help thinking it's still too soon for you to spar with me alone, never mind Wheeljack," Kira commented over the radio.

"Ah if the guy wants to get his aft handed to him, then he might as well get it handed to him by the best guys on his side," Wheeljack waved Kira off as he pulled out his swords and activated his battle mask. Wheeljack had actually raced over as soon as he heard Mu was switching to the Strike, and was eager to help his new wingman get some practice in. That didn't mean he was not going to mess with Mu though.

"Both of you quiet," Mu retorted. "Don't tell me what I can't do, and the only one who's getting his aft handed to him is going to be you Jackie! Now here I come!"

With that, Mu charged the Perfect Strike in to take a swing at the two. Kira and Wheeljack both smirked in response to this challenge behind their helmet visor and battle mask respectively and met Mu's attack with their own defense, and thus the sparring session between the Coordinator, the Wrecker, and the man who could make the impossible possible began.

* * *

Out in space, Dreadwing had found a small area of Debris to stand out in as he collected his thoughts. He had done as Lacus had asked and looked at the data card, only to discover that Lacus was right in what she had said. Finally he could take no more, and Dreadwing cried out to the endless expanse of space in anger and anguish.

"Dreadwing, what's wrong," Athrun's voice asked. Dreadwing turned to face the crimson red form of Athrun's new machine, the Justice. In truth, the two had actually both launched from the PLANTs to begin their new mission at the same time, and sadly that did not give Dreadwing much time to think about what he had seen on the data card. It was not until he saw the debris field they were now in did he ask Athrun to stop for a moment so that he could do so.

Dreadwing gazed at Athrun's suit for another moment before sighing and deciding to tell the boy he had now come to consider a friend why he was so upset. "I looked at the information that Lacus Clyne had given me Athrun, and it turns out she was correct. Megatron had betrayed me. It turns out after he first acquired the dark energon that now courses through him, he felt that he should test its ability to revive the dead as mindless Terrorcons, and the one he had the nerve to test it on was my own brother, Skyquake. He defiled my brother's peaceful rest with that vile substance, dishonored Skyquake's sacrifice, and all just so that he could have a proper test. Were it not for the efforts of Optimus Prime and some of his Autobots, who had been in the area when he began the test, my brother would still have been living in such disgraceful shame."

Athrun was shocked at this revelation, and could not help but feel sad for Dreadwing. The large Decepticon had just found out that the one he served so faithfully for so long had betrayed him so, and had attempted to cover it up like it never happened instead of admitting to his crime. It made Athrun think of how his father seemed to be becoming such a horrible person and of how it seemed that despite knowing things like this about Megatron he still kept the alliance between Z.A.F.T. and the Decepticons going strong.

"My whole quest to reclaim my honor, all my efforts to avenge my brother," Dreadwing softly moaned. "It has all been a lie, and all just been a disgrace in and of itself. How much of a fool have I become?"

Athrun allowed Dreadwing a moment before finally asking the question that he felt needed to be asked. "Now that you know all of this, what will you do Dreadwing?"

Dreadwing gathered himself together when he heard Athrun's question, and then turned his gaze from the Justice to Earth, before finally reaching his decision. "First I intend to find the Autobots, and depending on their current situation, I will then decide what I will do. However, I know one thing is certain about when I next meet with Optimus Prime's forces. I will not wish to fight them, but rather I will want to talk with them."

Having said this, Dreadwing transformed into his jet mode and blasted off for Earth, with the Justice just behind him. Both Coordinator and Decepticon knowing that they would both wish to speak to someone when they finally caught up with them.

* * *

**_AN: Well there you have it. I'll bet none of you were expecting some of the things that happened in this chapter, particularly the choice that Jetfire and Jetstorm made in terms of there new Earth forms. Now next chapter is the battle of Orb, so without further ado, here's the..._**

**_Murrue: Wait a minute, you said you would give a full answer to the Dinobot question._**

**_AN: Oh yeah, I was hoping you forgot about that...Anyways, I've been having a lot of people asking me if the Dinobots will appear in this story, even though I have already answered that question multiple times now, so I guess I'll say it again. Now for the millionth time, aside from that little flashback scene in this chapter, the Dinobots will not be appearing in the main storyline of this story series until the sequel to this story. Okay? Okay. Good, okay. Sorry if I sound a little rude saying that, but it had to be said._**

**_Murrue: Okay I think they get it._**

**_AN: Ahem...sorry about that. Moving on. Onto the preview that is!..._**

**_Azrael and Starscream launch an attack on Orb, and the _****Archangel****_ and the Autobots join the neutral nation's forces in the defense of their homeland. As the Autobots clash with the Insecticons, the Combaticons face off with the Aerialbots to settle an old score. Kira finds himself facing off against the current results of Blue Cosmos' research in combining Cybertronian and mobile suit technology, and as the battle starts to take a turn for the worst, Athrun and Dreadwing arrive on the scene, this time not as enemies, but as allies. What other surprises and revelations await our heroes in the coming battle, what changes will come from the battle between Orb and the Atlantic Federation with the Autobots and Starscream's Decepticon faction involved? The answers to the questions and more will soon be answered. Next time on Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Prime…_****Chapter 24: Turning Blades and Tides****_. Face off against this new opponent Superion and Gundam!_**

**_[Loud crash comes from the direction of the closet]_**

**_Cagalli: YOU ARE SO DEAD FOR LOCKING ME IN THE CLOSET AGAIN!_**

**_AN: Eep! Gotta run! [AN runs away screaming like a little girl, Cagalli hot on his tail]_**

**_Murrue:...Uh couldn't you wait until after..._**

**_AN: Don't worry I got it this time. [Fires freeze ray at Cagalli]_**

**_Murrue: Where did you even get that?_**

**_AN: Now that would be telling. Anyhow, please read and review, and I'll see you next time!_**


	24. 24: Turning Blades and Tides

_**AN: I'm going to try to keep this Author's note as short as possible since this is a long chapter, and I mean a **_**long_ chapter. I'm sorry to say that I can't answer most of the reviews from last chapter just yet as they would either spoil the events of this chapter or overall, but I will say this in response to two of them. Skids and Mudflap more than likely won't make an appearance in this timeline, but the Predacons will. They will have a major role in the final story of this trilogy I've now started. _****_Now then, let's get this show on the road with my longest chapter yet!_**

**_I do not own anything from any of the Gundam or Transformers franchises or any other franchise mentioned in this story._**

* * *

**Chapter 24: Turning Blades and Tides**

In an undisclosed location, Starscream was taking a small stroll around the secret installation that the Atlantic Federation had unknowingly set up for Blue Cosmos as he observed his troops preparing for battle, and yes he was only referring to the Decepticons and not the puny humans that were tinkering with the mobile suits or mobile armors or whatever else they were tinkering with. Starscream may be arrogant, but make no mistake when it came to differentiating between his troops and those of the humans he made no effort to make it clear which was which in his opinion. As he had approached the end of his stroll, Starscream noted a certain blonde man in a blue suit was entering the complex.

"Ah Azrael," Starscream smirked in greeting. "I do hope you bring good news about how your meeting went."

"Well naturally the boys upstairs are upset about what happened at Panama," Azrael commented in a carefree tone that would seem to indicate he barely even cared. "And now they are accelerating their plans to retake Victoria, but I was able to convince them to take other actions in the case of the Orb situation."

Now Starscream was very intrigued. "Oh, and what might that be?"

"I convinced them to let me handle the negotiations with Orb, and to let us take the new toys along with us, seeing as this would be a perfect way to test them."

"Ah yes, you are referring to the machines known as the Calamity, the Raider, and the Forbidden. I also can't help but notice how you said that they were allowing 'us' to do so. Does this mean that my forces will finally be able to show their worth in full?"

"But of course," Azrael replied with the same eager tone Starscream tried to display. "They are more than curious to see just how combative the Combaticons truly are, and how effective of a battle commander you are. So I have to ask, are you ready to storm Orb, Commander Starscream?"

Starscream smirked. "Am I to assume that you will want Morgenroete and Orb's Mass Driver undamaged?" When Starscream received only a calm smile in response from Azrael, he took that to mean yes and replied, "Very well. I shall let Onslaught and Sharpshot know to have their troops readied to move out and head into battle. I assure you they will prove to be exactly what you may be expecting them to be and more in the battle to come against both Orb and the Autobots."

Azrael raised an eyebrow at this comment. "The Autobots? Now why would we be fighting them at Orb? After all, we are all quite certain that they and their ship had been destroyed at JOSH-A, so why would we have reason to worry about them still being around at all?"

Starscream chuckled darkly in response as he stated, "My dear, naïve Azrael. You will soon see what I and all other Decepticons have learned long ago back on Cybertron, and that is the fact that Autobots are not so easily killed, especially when they serve directly under Optimus Prime or when it's the last Prime himself."

Azrael smirked in anticipation at this. Truthfully, he was actually hoping for that himself, as it would allow him to test the value of Starscream's new Decepticon forces to their true fullest. After all, what better way to test the value of a partnership with an alien military force than by pitting them against one of their greatest enemies? As he had stated earlier to his fellow Command members, if the noble Mister Athha was even half as stubborn as he was rumored to be then they could very well find themselves in for a little excitement and that was especially so if the Autobots truly were still alive and now in Orb.

* * *

The following day in Orb, Lord Uzumi and the rest of the Orb Government officials received what the Earth Forces called their "final warning", but the truth was that they were only being shown the Earth Forces true colors that they apparently had no trouble revealing now that they had lost Panama. Along with this, they also received information that an Alliance Fleet was already on its way to Orb, and somehow Carpentaria had found out about the situation and were now requesting a meeting as well. Needless to say, Uzumi Nara Athha was furious at this, not only because the Atlantic Federation were now shamelessly showing Orb their true colors, but also over the fact that the world was continuing to be forced in to two camps because of the Federation. Knowing that even if they avoided a conflict today, they only be forced to fight in the war tomorrow, so there was only one thing that the Orb leaders could do and it was not a hard decision.

That decision was soon passed on to Murrue Ramius and Optimus Prime aboard the _Archangel_ and in Alpha I respectively, which led the former Earth Forces ship's captain to call the crew together for a meeting. Everyone was quick to stop what they were doing in preparation for what they thought may or may not be coming and were soon gathered together in the _Archangel_'s hangar along with Optimus, Jazz, Hound, and Bumblebee. Seeing that everyone was now here, Murrue took a deep breath as she began, "An Earth Alliance fleet is on its way here, to Orb. We're told the reason is that unless Orb chooses to join forces with the Earth Alliance, and then fight against the PLANTs, it will be considered a supporter of Z.A.F.T."

"But that's ridiculous," someone cried out in protest.

"You're fragging right it is," Jazz added in.

"The Orb government is continuing to stress its position as a neutral nation and is pursuing a diplomatic solution even as we speak, but unfortunately, judging from the reaction of the Earth Forces so far, we think the chances of avoiding a battle are rather slim," Murrue then continued. "Orb has given its citizens orders to evacuate the cities and all areas in proximity to military facilities. They're readying their defenses in anticipation of the worst case scenario, and each one of us has to make a decision as well."

Everyone was silent at this, and were all suddenly unsure of what was now coming. Murrue then enlightened them all to that as she stated, "At the moment, the _Archangel_ is a run-away ship, and our status is undetermined. Right now there's nobody to give us our orders or tell us what to do about the Orb situation, and technically at this point you're no longer operating under my jurisdiction."

That led everyone to start whispering in barely restrained confusion, but despite this, they somehow all knew that the captain of the _Archangel_ was right about that and now knew what was going to be said next. "Should a battle prove unavoidable, the attack will commence at o' nine hundred the day after tomorrow. Each of us has to make a personal decision to fight and protect Orb or not. Therefore, anyone who wishes to take this opportunity to disembark from the ship is asked to leave immediately and evacuate according to the orders of the Orb government," Murrue then paused for a moment as she gave a small, apologetic smile before finally finishing her speech. "I know I wasn't the most reliable of captains, and I want to thank all of you for sticking with me. It was a privilege to have led you."

"You are mistaken in your judgment of your abilities as a captain, Murrue Ramius," Optimus then spoke up, getting everyone's attention, especially Murrue's. "While some in the Earth Forces may believe that, there is not a doubt in my processor or my spark that the _Archangel_ could never have asked for a better captain than you, however it may have happened. Through your efforts, this mighty ship and its crew have survived many battles and are now still able to stand to this day, and I am certain that so long as you remain as the _Archangel_'s captain it will continue to do so in all the challenges that are to come."

"I agree with Optimus," Kira stated, and he was soon joined by everyone from the _Archangel_ crew as well. "There's no one else I'd rather have as captain of this ship than you Miss Murrue."

With that said, everyone stood at attention, saluting the brave woman who had led them so well and helped them all to accomplish whatever mission or objective they faced. At the sight of this, Murrue could only stare in shock, before tears of joy began to slowly fall from her eyes as she smiled and said, "Thank you. Thank you all so much."

Optimus and the other Autobots all nodded at seeing how loyal to their captain the _Archangel_'s crew was, and felt that they had forged a bond of brotherhood that could only be matched by the Autobots themselves.

The last Prime then cleared his throat before giving another speech of his own. "In reference to the _Omega II_, the ship had never truly had any formal alliance with the Earth Forces or any official military force of your world, and therefore its status is as undetermined as the _Archangel_'s. However, we have all now seen just how corrupt and twisted the Earth Alliance truly is and how they have constantly asked for all to play by their rules, and now the rules have changed. I once said that our vessel would become a symbol of what a true alliance between humans and Cybertronians can accomplish as it took on the namesake of a fallen Autobot warrior, and that has stood true to this day. Now we shall show the Earth Forces the truth of this symbol and why the Autobots shall never surrender to any force that allies with the Decepticons as we take the battle to them! I intend to ensure that Orb does not fall to this terrible darkness that could be considered as the Earth's own Decepticons. My fellow warriors, Autobot and human alike, what do you wish to ensure?"

As Optimus finished his speech, the Autobots who were present, or simply listening in from Alpha I or the _Omega II_ all roared in agreement with what he said, and they were quickly joined by all those on the _Archangel_ who intended to stay. Hearing this, Optimus felt certain that when the Earth Forces came, even if the nation itself were to fall, that Orb would live on no matter what the cost.

* * *

A few hours after the two speeches had been given, while most remained with the _Archangel_ some people did leave the ship in the end. Among the eleven people who did leave, was Kira's friend Kuzzey, and to be honest, Kira and Sai both thought that was for the best, as the young man was far too nice to get involved with battles at all. Though the boy did feel like the fact he was the only one out of their group of friends leaving made him look like a coward, a small pep talk from Sai was enough to cheer him up and make him feel like he was making the right decision, at least for himself. Of course, there were also two that needed to leave the ship, and neither one of them was among those eleven.

While everyone was finishing up with the preparations for action the following day, Miriallia and Kira went to release Dearka and Nicol from the brig. Nicol raised an eyebrow and asked, "What's going on?"

"This ship is going into battle again because the Earth Forces are attacking Orb," Miriallia told him and Dearka in a soft, neutral tone. "Apparently, you're both free to go now. You're both being released."

With that said, Miriallia just tossed Dearka his pilot suit and then walked out, while Kira simply handed Nicol his. "Is what she said true, Kira," Nicol asked.

"Yeah Nicol," Kira replied.

"I see." Nicol looked down for a moment, though whether it was in sadness or contemplation it was hard to say. They were both brought out of it when they heard Dearka calling out to Miriallia asking for clarification as he chased after her. The two then looked to each other before they both followed after Dearka as well.

"Exactly what I told you," Miriallia stated to Dearka after he finally caught up. "The Earth Forces are going to be attacking soon and the _Archangel_ is going to be fighting back with the Autobots, and there isn't a good reason to keep you two on board anymore so get off."

"But I want to know why you guys decided to fight against the Earth Forces," Dearka then asked.

"Because Orb refused to join forces with the Earth Alliance," Miriallia replied.

"That's just nuts. Are Naturals really that stupid," Dearka then asked. Kira and Nicol both slapped their foreheads at Dearka for that comment and how he once again seemed to be itching for Miriallia to attack him.

"Who cares what you think?! When the fighting starts it's gonna get chaotic around here," Miriallia snapped. "I'm sorry but you and Nicol are both on your own."

Nicol just put a hand on Dearka's shoulder, silently telling him to shut up before he said anything stupid. The green haired boy then asked, "What about our mobile suits, the Buster and the Blitz?"

"Those were ours to begin with. Morgenroete has them now," Kira told them. Nicol nodded in understanding of that while Dearka's face just fell at that news.

Miriallia then turned to Dearka and smiled as she said, "I'm sorry things turned out this way Dearka."

Dearka just watched her go for a minute before he ran up and stopped her from going any further by grabbing her arm, leading Miriallia to spin around to face him. "Are…are you fighting too Miriallia?"

"I'd better be! I'm in charge of the _Archangel_'s CIC," Miriallia stated as she pulled herself free. She then calmly stated, "Besides Orb is my homeland."

Dearka just watched her go for a moment, barely registering Kira saying goodbye to him or Nicol as he turned to return to his maintenance work on the Freedom, until Nicol finally tapped him on the shoulder. The blonde turned to see his piano loving friend throwing him a knowing smile as Nicol stated, "You know, we can't really just ignore something like this happening to a place as peaceful as Orb."

"Yeah I know," Dearka stated. "I mean, it's partially our fault that Heliopolis was destroyed, and I don't know about you Nicol, but I don't want Orb or anyone else fighting to defend it to follow after the space colony."

"In other words, you just don't want Miss Miriallia to die right," Nicol asked with a sly tone.

Dearka's face then gained a faint blush at that. "N-no, I just…I mean…," the blonde stuttered.

Nicol just laughed at his friend's predicament. "So you've gotten a little crush on the girl who tried to turn you into a pin cushion huh?"

"No I don't have a crush on her Nicol," Dearka half-shouted, but his intensifying blush was telling a whole different story.

Nicol just raised his hands in mock surrender before he told the blonde, "Either way, I'm not gonna stand by and do nothing to help Orb."

Dearka's blush then vanished as his usual smile returned as he told Nicol, "Then we best get moving Nicol. Let's go get our Gundams back."

As Nicol turned to follow after Dearka, who was already heading for the exit when he said that last part, he called out, "You know, you seriously need to tell me what is with this 'Gundam' thing you keep going on about whenever you talk about our mobile suits."

"I'll fill you in on the way, just get moving," Dearka called back, slipping into his pilot suit as he did.

* * *

The morning of the impending battle between Orb and the Earth Forces finally came, and everyone was almost instantly on edge from the moment they had woken up. On the _Archangel_'s bridge, Murrue Ramius was looking out the window thinking over all that had happened when Mu La Flaga came up to her to talk to her about the recent events. "You know, the captain shouldn't look that depressed, especially after such an arousing moment like the one from the other day."

Murrue just nodded in consent of that, prompting Mu to continue. "All told, only eleven left the ship, and that's pretty incredible in and of itself. JOSH-A must've really pissed them off."

Murrue looked down for a moment before she finally asked something she needed to know the answer to for a while now. "Commander, there's something I want to know about JOSH-A. Why'd you return?"

Mu was taken aback by that for a moment before he let a sly smile come to his face as he replied. "Oh yeah. You're question just made me remember what I'd forgotten to do."

Before Murrue could ask what that was, she found herself wrapped in Mu's arms and with the blonde man's lips planted on her own. Naturally, Murrue was shocked by the former commander's bold move at first, but eventually she melted right into it and returned the kiss before the two pulled away. Murrue then gained a small blush as she softly stated, "You ought to know I really can't stand mobile armor pilots."

"Well I guess it's a good thing I'm a mobile _suit_ pilot now," Mu pointed out, and soon enough, the two had embraced each other with another kiss. They stayed like that until a few of the_Archangel_'s remaining crew members came up to the bridge and froze in shock with their jaws dropping to the floor at the sight of the two.

* * *

After what felt like an eternity, the hour of the Earth Forces' attack finally came, and it came with a bang as the Earth Forces fleet made the first move in the battle. Orb was quick to respond by intercepting the missiles headed towards the ships while the Astrays began heading out into battle as well.

"This is the _Archangel_, heading out," Murrue called out as soon as she heard that the battle had begun.

"This is Ratchet aboard the _Omega II_, rolling out," Ratchet then announced from the bridge of the Autobot ship. The other Autobots had split into multiple teams for their part of the battle. The three Wreckers would be doing their utmost to drive any enemies that made their way onto shore back and protect the evacuating civilians, while Optimus would be leading a team consisting of Bumblebee, Arcee, Jazz, Elita One, and Ironhide in the Autobots' main attack force, and Silverbolt and the Aerialbots would be the front line forces for aerial combat, leaving Ratchet to man the_Omega II_, using the ship to act as both support for all friendly forces and as a field medical station for the Autobots.

In no time at all, the Orb forces and the Autobots were engaging the enemy and shooting down the enemy missiles that threatened the neutral nation. Things seemed to be going as expected in the battle, even after a squadron of Earth Forces mobile suits tried to begin landing on one of the nation's islands, but then a small squadron of carriers appeared over Onogoro to drop some of mobile suits down on them from above. They did not seem to be a problem at first, but after a team of Orb mobile suits destroyed one Strike Dagger's weapon, the mobile suit simply raised its arm and shifted it into a blaster.

"What the…These mobile suits are able to use weapons like the Cybertronians can," one of the Orb soldiers shouted at the sight just before he took a hit from the Strike Dagger's blaster arm.

"Autobots engage the enemy," Optimus shouted as he whipped out his Energon Battle Axe. The last Prime's team quickly charged in, cutting down some Strike Daggers as they went, when they were suddenly ambushed from both bellow and above by a pair of Insecticon squadrons, led by none other than Kickback and Hardshell.

"Looks like Starscream didn't want to miss out," Jazz commented as he fired his Scatter Blaster at some of the Insecticon drones.

"Too bad I forgot my bug spray," Arcee added, firing a blast from her Plasma Cannon that took out three Insecticons just before she cut another one down with her arm blades.

"Less talking and more shooting," Ironhide shouted as he fired off a few rounds from his own guns, those being his default blaster and a Thermo Rocket Cannon.

_"__Kira Yamato, Freedom, let's do it,"_ Kira's voice then called out as the blue winged Gundam blasted out of the _Archangel_ and into the battle as well.

_"__Mu La Flaga, launching in Perfect Strike,"_ Mu then announced as said mobile suit blasted into action a moment later, and thus the battle began to tip back into their favor. The only question was for how long would that last?

* * *

"Well it seems the Autobots did survive after all," Azrael commented with a small amount of impression.

"And it would also seem they now have some new friends, or should I say that they've recovered some old friends," Starscream mildly snarled as he looked at the image of the Aerialbots on the monitor he was viewing.

"Oh yes, and would you have any idea who they are? As far as I know, I don't recall there being any flying Autobots before," Azrael asked as he watched the Jet brothers transform from their Sky Grasper modes and blast some flying Insecticons out of the air along with some Earth Forces carriers before returning to their vehicle modes and blasting off towards their next targets.

"Unfortunately I do," Starscream half moaned overdramatically. "They are known as the only Autobot team that is completely composed of flyers, the Aerialbots. Those five you see are actually the main leaders of the team, and I am sad to say I was once a member along with my siblings until we had our eyes opened to the truth of what real power is. Oh if only I had snuffed Jetfire's spark eons ago on Cybertron, then we would have nothing to fear from them."

"And why is that?"

"Keep in mind Azrael; I did say that the Combaticons were not the only team of combiners out there," Starscream pointed out in a near menacing tone.

"Well then I guess our boys and Onslaught's team had better get out there as well shouldn't they?"

"Indeed they shou-," Starscream began to say, but he was quickly interrupted by Onslaught himself.

_"__We don't need you or the little pretty boy there to tell us to do anything Starscream! Silverbolt and his team are ours so just stay out of our way. Combaticons, engage the Aerialbots"_ Onslaught shouted just before the two watched the five combat specialists blasted off into the battlefield to meet their old foes.

"Oh well," Starscream commented with a shrug. "They do remember not to damage the Mass Driver or Morgenroete so it should be no problem to let them do as they like. Now that they are out there though, I had best join the battle myself."

"You're going out there," Azrael asked with honest confusion.

"A good commander is one who would not ask his forces to do any less than what he himself would do Director Azrael," Starscream replied smoothly as he assumed his jet mode and blasted off with Sharpshot not far behind him.

* * *

Needless to say, some of the Orb forces were having a bit of trouble fighting off the Strike Daggers, especially given the fact said mobile suits were able to use weapons similar to how Cybertronians used their default weapons, but with the Freedom on the battlefield taking out multiple targets at once, it was no problem to even things up quickly, especially with the added fire power of the Perfect Strike and the Autobot teams. That began to change as the Calamity and the Raider blasted onto the battle field and began to engage in battle with the _Archangel_, the Calamity's blasts taking out an Orb ship as it fired.

After jumping off of the Raider, the Calamity was quick to start firing all its blasters on the Orb forces that it could, a sight that did not go unnoticed by Dearka, who scowled feeling like that machine was an insult to the Buster, which also specialized in long range tactics.

Meanwhile, Kira had begun to fight against both the Raider and the Forbidden and it was pretty obvious that the two were not much of team players, but all the same, Kira was still having trouble since the suits themselves were still formidable, given the Raiders speed and the Forbidden's ability to deflect Kira's beam attacks, but just barely since they were powered by energon.

Optimus went to try and provide assistance to Kira, but was intercepted by none other than Starscream himself, as the traitorous Seeker whipped out his sword and met Prime's Battle Axe in battle. It did not escape Optimus's notice though, that the Combaticons had arrived on the battlefield, but thankfully the Aerialbots seemed to be handling their old foes fairly well for the moment. That was when he noticed the _Archangel_ was about to be attacked by some Earth Forces fighter planes, but just before he or anyone else could order someone to provide assistance to the ship, a beam shot from the direction of the island took down both planes.

When everyone looked to the source, they all gasped in shock at the sight of the Buster with its rifles armed and aimed right at the Earth Forces, with the Blitz charging in to provide assistance. In no time at all, Dearka had shot down nearly an entire squadron of Earth Forces fighters before Nicol appeared on the _Archangel_ after disengaging the Blitz's mirage colloid to finish the rest off, allowing the white ship the time it needed to fall back a bit to catch its breath.

It was clear that the battle was fairly evenly matched as everyone could see from just about any point on the battlefield that every person involved was locked in mortal combat against some powerful opponent. In the case of Silverbolt, it was his Combaticon counterpart, Onslaught as the two locked fists with each other. "You don't seem surprised to see us Silverbolt," Onslaught snarled.

"Given all the trouble you and your brutes of a team have given us, I'm actually surprised you didn't think I would be expecting to have to fight you again soon," Silverbolt retorted as he landed a hard kick into Onslaught's side.

"I suppose I have to give you that," Onslaught conceded. "But this time, we'll make sure you and your team are grounded permanently!" With that the two quickly charged each other once more.

Jetfire and Jetstorm would have moved to help their leader, but sadly they had the unfortunate pleasure of facing off against Blastoff and Vortex in an all-out dog fight. The two brothers were no slouches when it came to this kind of thing of course, in fact they were even better than the Seeker siblings of the Decepticons, but when up against opponents such as the two aerial Combaticons, even they had trouble.

The same problems were being face by all the Autobots as they were met with either more Insecticons or just doing their best to fend off Earth Forces soldiers and mobile suits. During the whole battle though, none of them were aware of the red machine and blue and gold jet that was hovering just a short ways away from them, watching the battle.

* * *

During the fighting, some people were still doing everything they could to escape Orb, as not all of the civilians were able to evacuate in time, and as such, the Wreckers took to making sure that the civilians made it to the transports safely as a top priority. One family in particular was running as fast as they could to reach the boats that would get everyone to safety, when the younger of the two children accidentally dropped her phone. Moving quickly when he saw that his little sister was not willing to leave it behind, the son quickly jumped down the hillside that the phone had fallen and scooped it up, none of them noticing an enemy machine was about to fire a blast in their direction. Thankfully, someone else did.

"Look out," A deep voice called out in fear to the four. The next thing any of them knew, the two parents and the little girl were scooped up by a large metal hand as a large green robot tumbled down the hill as well before scooping up the son and then turning into a dark green SUV. The vehicle then sped down the hillside just before a massive blast hit the point where the family had just been, screeching to a stop just at the docks, and changing back into a robot, with the family clutched safely in his hands.

The family looked up and all started to worry a bit when they saw the large green robot standing over them, when said robot spoke saying, "Don't worry, you're safe now."

The son then gasped as his eyes widened in shock at the realization that the robot was not a mobile suit, and then shook himself out of it before walking over to his sister and saying, "Hey Mayu, next time, try not to drop this okay?"

When Mayu saw that her big brother was holding her cell phone out to her, she squealed with joy as she accepted her phone and threw her arms around her older brother saying, "Thank you so much big brother! You're the best!"

The large green robot let out a small chuckle at seeing the interaction between the two siblings before he got the older one's attention saying, "Hey kid that was a pretty gutsy move you pulled back there, but it was also really good of you to look out for your sister like that. Truly worthy of a Wrecker if you ask me. By the way, my name's Bulkhead. What's yours?"

The boy looked up at Bulkhead to reveal crimson colored eyes under his messy black hair as he smiled and replied, "It's Shinn. Shinn Asuka."

Bulkhead nodded in reply to that before an explosion grabbed his attention. "Nice meeting you Shinn, but I've gotta get back in the fight. My own family needs me now, so do me a favor and keep yours safe alright?"

Shinn nodded with a mock salute as Bulkhead quickly spun around and raced back to the action, smashing a Strike Dagger with his wrecking ball as he went. Shinn could only stare after the large green Autobot in awe for a moment as his sister started tapping his arm to get his attention. When she finally had it, Shinn told her, "Mayu, I think I just figured out what I want to do in the future."

* * *

Back on the main battlefield, Kira and Optimus's two battles had become one and the same, as the two found themselves trading blows with both Starscream and the Raider and the Forbidden. If one were to watch the blue winged mobile suit and the last Prime as they fought against their opponents, they would tell you it was like watching two people fighting together like they had been fighting side by side their whole lives, but it was not making all that much difference against their opponents, and it was keeping them both from helping out the rest of their allies.

Everyone was doing their best, but at the moment Orb was losing ground and the Autobots could only do so much against the swarm of Insecticons and with the Combaticons occupying the Aerialbots. Just when it seemed like Starscream and the two new Earth Forces machines had the Freedom and Optimus right where they wanted them though, a flash of red appeared out of nowhere to save the Freedom and temporarily knock the Raider off balance, while a blue and gold blur slammed Starscream aside.

Neither Kira nor Optimus recognized the red mobile suit that was now fighting beside them, but they did recognize the familiar gold and blue form that changed from a jet into a robot instantly. They could not believe their eyes, but it was true. Dreadwing had just appeared before them and saved them, which could only mean that one person could be piloting the red mobile suit that was now moving to fight alongside Kira.

A fact that was soon confirmed by the pilot radioing the Freedom. "This is Z.A.F.T. special forces agent Athrun Zala. Do you read me Freedom, or should I say Kira Yamato," Athrun called out. Kira could only gasp in shock at this as he watched Athrun arm his mobile suit, the Justice, with a duel beam saber and charge at the Raider.

Kira then finally shook himself out of it as he pulled out one of the Freedom's beam sabers and joined in the battle as well as he called out, "What're you doing here? Have Z.A.F.T. and Megatron decided to stick their noses into this battle?"

"I haven't received any specific military orders regarding this battle," Athrun revealed. Athrun then charged as he shouted out, "This intervention is my decision alone!"

"And I stand by him in this battle," Dreadwing revealed. "Because today, I am not your enemy Optimus Prime. Today, I am your ally!" He then charged at Starscream, his sword at the ready, and slashed at the former second in command to Megatron. With those words said, Optimus and the Freedom charged into battle with Dreadwing and the Justice by their side. It was a sight that quickly drew everyone's attention. Some due to the fact that a mysterious new mobile suit had arrived to provide assistance to the Freedom and Optimus, and others because Dreadwing, a supposedly loyal Decepticon, was now fighting alongside one of his hated enemies.

Ironhide was quick to snap everyone back to the present. "Come on ya bunch of protoforms," the Autobot weapons specialist shouted as he took down a small squadron of Insecticons and Strike Daggers on his own. "We ain't got time to be watching Prime and the Freedom and their new friends, we've got other enemies to put holes in!"

With that, the Autobots were quick to recover and were soon charging in to action once more at full force, with Mu, Dearka, and Nicol right behind them, and the Orb forces mobile suits quickly following after. It was a brutal battle that ensued, with Aerialbots facing off with Combaticons, Autobots scrapping Insecticons, and the combined might of the Orb forces, the Perfect Strike, the Buster, and the Blitz tearing apart the Strike Daggers all while Optimus and Dreadwing faced off against Starscream and eventually Sharpshot alongside Kira and Athrun as they began to fight all three of the new Earth Forces machines.

Soon enough into the renewed battle though, something began to happen among the three new Earth machines and Dreadwing and Optimus quickly noticed it. "These guys…" Kira began.

"They don't give a damn about each other," Athrun exclaimed.

"No it's not that Athrun," Dreadwing told his young friend.

"They are fighting amongst themselves," Optimus finished. None of the four were sure what to do at that point, aside from making sure Starscream and Sharpshot did not try to take advantage of their temporary confusion, until suddenly the three machines suddenly began to withdraw back to the ship they came from. A moment later, a signal flare went up to order a temporary withdrawal to the Earth Forces. Starscream snarled in annoyance at this as he then called out, "Decepticons, fall back at once!"

With that said, Starscream returned to his jet mode and flew back to his new allies with the Insecticons close behind him and the Combaticons soon following, though more reluctantly. Once they had seen that their enemies had all left, the Freedom and Optimus turned to face the Justice and Dreadwing. The two pairs just remained there staring at one and other for a while until Kira finally spoke up. "Thanks for the backup you two, but I'm still wondering what exactly are your true intentions, and that goes for both of you," Kira stated.

Athrun sighed a bit before he opened his cockpit to allow Kira to see him as he told his old friend, "We're under orders from the homeland to either capture or destroy that machine you're flying right now, the Freedom, but I have no intention, at least for now, of fighting against either of you or your allies. I just want to talk, okay?"

Kira stared at his friend for another moment before he finally replied, "Okay Athrun."

Before anyone moved though, Optimus then asked, "And what of your intentions here Dreadwing? Do you intend to follow through with the mission that Megatron has assigned you and Athrun?"

Dreadwing was silent for a moment, until he raised his hands in a surrendering gesture and stating, "I have no intention of following Megatron's orders at this time Optimus Prime. At the moment, I merely wish to speak with you as well, if you will allow me. It is a matter that is of the utmost importance to me."

Optimus was silent for a brief time as he gazed at Dreadwing, trying to see if there was any sign of deceit in what the Decepticon warrior was saying. After he found none, Optimus merely nodded and moved to lead Dreadwing back to the shore along with Kira and Athrun.

* * *

It was sunset when the four finally landed, and everyone who was catching their breath from the battle was quick to notice them, and they all ran over to see what would happen. Elita raised her arms to signal the Autobots not to make any hasty actions as Murrue did the same for her ship's crew as Kira and Athrun both climbed down from their machines. After a moment, Kira and Athrun both began to move towards each other as Optimus and Dreadwing did the same.

Everyone suddenly began to find themselves on edge at this sight, to the point where some people even started to aim their guns at Athrun and Dreadwing. The two barely spared more than a small glance in their direction as they continued towards Kira and Optimus, while Kira and Optimus both raised a hand to signal them to stand down as Kira shouted out, "They're not enemies."

Finally, the four were all close enough to one and other to be within arm's reach, at which point they all came to a halt. They all stood there for a brief period in silence, until Birdie called out and landed on Kira's shoulder, bringing a smile to Kira's and Athrun's faces. Finally, Dreadwing extended a hand to Optimus that the Autobot leader gladly accepted, while Kira looked to his friend happily as he repeated his words from the cave they were once trapped in. "Hi Athrun."

Athrun returned the smile after a moment and replied in the same manner as he did before. "Kira."

Before anyone else could say anything, Cagalli rushed out to them and grabbed them both in a tight hug as she stated with a teary smile, "You guys…you're both idiots!"

Kira and Athrun could only look at the blonde girl strangely before they finally smiled to each other chuckling, while Optimus and Dreadwing looked down upon the scene after ending their handshake as Dreadwing commented, "Human femme are most certainly stranger than Cybertronian ones."

Optimus merely chuckled as he stated, "Indeed they are Dreadwing. Indeed they are."

"Oh so I'm suddenly strange am I," Elita asked in an all too sweet tone as she came up to Optimus from behind, instantly putting the last Prime on guard in fear for his life.

"I…I never said that," Optimus quickly stated nervously, praying that he would not suffer his sparkmate's wrath.

"You were implying it though, Orion," Elita told him, and now Optimus knew he was in trouble. The only times Elita ever referred to him by his old name was when they were having a romantic moment or when she was very pissed off with him or getting close to it.

"Uh, no I was not. Dreadwing was," Optimus quickly stated, jabbing a finger in Dreadwing's direction.

"Hey leave me out of it," Dreadwing stated, suddenly fearing for his own spark. Even among Decepticons, the stories of what Elita One would do to someone when she was angry were enough to cause any of them to fear for their existence. He once heard that even Megatron himself would quiver in fear of the idea of crossing paths with Elita One when she was angry, and that was saying something!

"You are already involved in this since it was you who got us into this," Optimus pointed out. Before the two could continue, they both found themselves wrapped in a welcoming hug by Elita as she chuckled a bit at the two of them.

"You're both idiots just as much as Kira and Athrun are," Elita stated.

At that point, everyone was either failing to suppress their laughter at the sight of the two powerful transformers quivering in fear of Elita One and of their shocked and confused looks at how that had ended, or just chuckling along with Kira, Athrun, and Cagalli at the sight of what had just happened. As Optimus and Dreadwing glanced at each other, they both knew they were thinking the exact same thing. _What the Pits just happened?_

* * *

A few hours later, Optimus had revealed to Dreadwing that everything about Megatron using his late brother, Skyquake, as a test subject for the dark engeron's ability to revive the dead was true. At the news of this, Dreadwing finally found himself unsure of what he should really do now that he knew the truth. He knew one thing for certain though; he had no intention of returning to Megatron now that he did know, and at the same time he knew that it was probably for the best that he remain with Athrun Zala until the young pilot was sure of what he should do now. With that in mind, they had soon found themselves standing off to the side as Kira and Athrun talked.

"But that's…," Athrun began after he heard what Kira told him.

"Yeah I know it's the most difficult way, but I'm also positive that there's really no other choice," Kira told Athrun as they were both given drinks by Cagalli, who had been smiling at the fact that the two were starting to become friends again for hours now.

"I believe that what Cagalli's father says is true," Kira continued. "If Orb were to side with the Earth Forces, the Atlantic Federation would take advantage of its power and attack the PLANTs, and the same thing would happen if Orb sided with Z.A.F.T. The only difference would be in which country they were designated as the enemy, but either way there'd be no change for the better. I can't let it go on like that, and that's the reason why…"

"But you…," Athrun began to point out.

Kira smiled at Athrun for a moment before he looked down sadly as he replied, "I know. I killed a comrade of yours, a personal friend, but I never knew them or met the guy, and it's not as if I wanted to kill him."

"Her," Athrun corrected. At Kira's questioning glance, Athrun elaborated saying, "The person was a girl. Her name was Jaylen."

"Oh sorry," Kira quickly apologized. Athrun just waved it off before letting Kira continue. "And you killed Tolle, but you never knew him either. You didn't want to kill him right?"

Athrun and the others barely registered Miriallia's gasp in shock as the conversation continued, with Dearka being the only exception. "No," Athrun replied sadly. "But I tried my hardest to kill you."

"Same here," Kira told him, getting Athrun's shocked attention once more. "Look Athrun, it would be great if we lived in a world where we never had to fight. If only we could live in that world forever, but this war keeps escalating."

"That's putting it mildly," Ironhide muttered, getting an elbow in the side from Elita, telling him to shut up and listen.

"If it goes on like this, the PLANTs and the Earth will have no choice but to destroy each other, and that's why I've decided to fight," Kira finished.

"Kira," Athrun gasped.

"I just wanted to protect others, but now that I've pulled the trigger it's too late to go back." Kira then asked Athrun an all-important question. "Are we gonna have to fight each other?"

Athrun gasped in shock at that, wanting to say no so much, but found he could not for some reason. Kira smiled, seeing this fact in Athrun's eyes before stating that he had to get back to work. Before he left though, Athrun stood up and stated, "I have one question. The Freedom is equipped with an Energon Reactor Core, so what would happen if that data…?"

Kira gave Athrun a reassuring smile as he told him confidently, "If anyone tried to get that data from me for their own purposes, I'd shoot them."

Athrun nodded in acceptance of that and Kira then continued on his way. Seeing that things were wrapped up here, the Autobots began to disperse as well, going back to their own duties to prepare for the next attack. As they did, Athrun overheard Dearka attempting to cheer up Miriallia, but ultimately fail as she ran off with the blonde doing his best to make up for his stumble. As he watched this, he heard someone start chuckling and turned to see his friend Nicol was the one laughing at Dearka's predicament.

When he saw Athrun giving him a questioning look, Nicol just stated, "A lot has happened to us since we last saw you Athrun, and one of those things being Mister Smooth Talker Dearka developing a crush on that girl Miriallia."

Athrun could only stare at Nicol for a moment, before he too started to find himself laughing along with the green haired boy. "Pretty ironic huh, considering how often he made fun Yzak's supposed relationship with that one girl in our graduating class. What was her name again," Athrun then asked.

"Don't remember. I didn't have that many classes with her," Nicol replied.

"Yeah same here." As soon as they had finished that discussion, Nicol saw a familiar individual that he felt he really needed to talk to and excused himself to go do so.

"Hey excuse me," Nicol called out to Bumblebee, getting the scout's attention. As soon as he saw he had it, Nicol sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck as he asked, "You're Bumblebee right?"

The scout nodded with an affirmative beep in reply, prompting Nicol to continue. "I just wanted to say thank you. You saved my life in a previous battle."

Bumblebee let out a series of beeps that Nicol only figured were ones of confusion until Cagalli walked up translating, "He asked you what battle that was."

After staring at her in confusion as to how Cagalli could understand the scout, and getting a casual shrug in reply, Nicol turned back to Bumblebee to answer the scout's question. "It was the one we had against you and the _Archangel_ just after you guys had left Orb. I was the pilot of the Blitz," Nicol explained, elaborating as much as he could in case it would help.

Bumblebee then gave a few beeps and whirs of recognition to what Nicol was talking about and then told Nicol something that Cagalli then translated saying, "He said that he remembered now and that your welcome. He was really only doing his job as an Autobot, protecting lives and all that."

Nicol nodded in understanding and stated, "All the same thank you. Oh my name's Nicol by the way. Nicol Amalfi."

Bumblebee returned the greeting with a series of beeps that Cagalli translated to mean, "It's nice to meet you Nicol."

"Likewise," Nicol replied. Before long, Nicol had moved off to run some maintenance on the Blitz, because he already knew what he was going to do when the enemy returned.

* * *

A few hours later, Athrun and Cagalli were standing off to the side watching everyone else hard at work, or just watching Kira, as Athrun finally asked, "Why are you sticking so close to me?"

"Don't mind me," Cagalli replied. "I'm just standing guard."

"So I see," Athrun told her with a knowing smile.

"You must be relieved that Kira's alive," Cagalli then commented with a smile of her own.

"Yeah," Athrun told her. He then paused for a moment before saying, "You know I didn't really thank you properly before."

"Sure you did. Definitely…well kind of," Cagalli tried to insist.

"Are you sure?"

"You weren't really yourself. Maybe you don't remember," Cagalli stated, turning away so that Athrun could not see her face.

Athrun let out a small chuckle as he replied, "Yeah."

The two then fell silent for another moment before Cagalli asked, "Kira's changed, don't you think?"

Athrun thought about it for a moment before saying, "No. He's the same as he always was."

Athrun then moved to head for the Justice before Cagalli stopped him asking, "So what're you going to do about this?"

Athrun looked down for a moment before replying, "I don't know."

"Ugh, not again," Cagalli moaned as she placed a hand to her head.

"But," Athrun then continued. "Maybe…I already know the answer. It's a tough choice."

Cagalli watched Athrun go for a moment before she glanced down stating, "For us all."

Athrun was then stopped in his tracks when he saw a certain blue Autobot femme walking over to him and kneel down to his level with a threatening look. "Listen closely Athrun Zala," Arcee told him with a slightly menacing tone in her voice just to make sure she had his attention. "I'm telling you right now, you hurt Cagalli in any way, and I will be introducing you to the business end of both my blades and my blasters, got it?"

Athrun felt his face go crimson at that, as it did not take him long to understand what Arcee was meaning when she said that, and he was not the only one. "Arcee I heard that," Cagalli shouted. "For the last time, my relationship with Athrun is not like that!"

Arcee just smirked. "I don't hear you denying that there is a relationship."

"I…you…you know what I meant! Would you please stop making fun of something that doesn't exist?!"

"Sorry little sister, but it's only fair that I get to pick on you for this after all the times you've been teasing me about my so-called relationship with Bumblebee."

"So why can't you leave me out of this? I never once made fun of you two," Athrun demanded.

"I need to pay you back for all the times you attacked us somehow now that you're not an enemy, and besides you're the one she's got a thing for. Like the old saying goes, all's fair in love and war," Arcee told him, her smirk getting bigger by the minute.

Much to the embarrassment of both Athrun and Cagalli, it continued on like that for a while, and neither one of them knew that they were just giving a good show to a certain two individuals. The first being Kira, who was doing his best not to laugh his head off as he worked, and the other being Bumblebee as he just chuckled at the fact he was enjoying the show of his girl getting her pay back on the blonde. _Wait, my girl?! Where did that come from?!_

* * *

It was early sunrise when Azrael had finally asked for a status report on the preparations. When he had heard Orb had sent repeated requests for reopening negotiations, Azrael simply shrugged it off like it was meaningless and stated that it would be best if Orb just disappeared. At that, the captain of the ship he was on informed him that the only concern they had was with "his people", namely the pilots of the Calamity, the Raider, and the Forbidden, but Azrael assured him that they most likely would not be much trouble this time around. It was a confidence that was just barely shared by a certain sky commander.

Starscream was honestly not that big a fan of the biological computers, as he learned that the three pilots were referred to as, but he would not deny that when they were actually doing their jobs then they were an effective unit. All the same, this time around Starscream was not willing to take any chances and intended to go in full blast right from the start this time. A fact he made crystal clear to Azrael.

"Are you sure that is for the best," Azrael asked just before they redeployed their forces.

"Positive," Starscream replied. "While you may simply say that the first battle was to gauge the enemy's strengths and to give those pilots of yours a dry run or whatever terms you used in reference to them, I had my forces actually doing so. Now that we know the Autobots' full strength and what Orb is now capable of, I don't intend to have my forces hold anything back."

"But what would happen if your forces accidentally ended up destroying one of the two targets that we need intact? I'd say that would be a pretty large black mark on our alliance Commander Starscream," Azrael pointed out.

"As black a mark as being the leader of Blue Cosmos," Starscream inquired. "Or how about consorting with the enemy as I know you have done. Namely with one Rau Le Creuset."

That shut Azrael up, and brought a frown to his face. Clearly the blonde had underestimated just what the sky commander was capable of. Seeing that his work was done and he had made his point, Starscream simply chuckled before transforming to follow after his forces as they charged into battle once more.

* * *

The alert of the enemy attack recommencing came as quickly as possible to Orb, but seeing as they had not had any of their requests for reopening negotiations replied to, it was still infuriating to them. It seemed that the Atlantic Federation had now decided that anyone declared an enemy was not even worth listening to now. With this in mind, everyone quickly moved to return to the battle. Kira himself was heading for the Freedom when he heard Athrun call out to him, causing him to pause for a moment.

"From the looks of things, there's no way Orb can win this fight," Athrun stated. "You know that don't you?"

"…Yeah I think we all realize that," Kira replied with an understanding smile. "But just because the odds are against us, doesn't mean we should give up fighting and let them do whatever they want to us, now does it?"

Athrun tried to protest against this, but it was clear Kira was not going to hear of it. "The important thing is to know what we're fighting for, and that's why I'm going out there. Of course, I'd rather not fight if I can help it, but there's some things you can't protect without fighting." Kira then began his ascent to the Freedom's cockpit as he continued to give Athrun an understanding look. "I'm sorry Athrun, and thank you. I'm glad I had this chance to talk with you."

Athrun could not say anything more as he watched his friend climb into the Freedom and head out into the battle once more. He stood there for another moment before he heard someone call out, "Tough choice isn't it?"

Athrun turned to see both Dearka and Nicol standing behind him, both suited up for action once more. "Your orders are to take that thing back right," Dearka then continued, being the one who had called out. At Athrun's silence, the blonde just sighed as he stated, "It's not gonna go over very well. We're Z.A.F.T. soldiers and if we keep intervening like this…"

Dearka let that hang for a moment as he discreetly gauged what Athrun's response would be to what he had said. After a moment of clenching his fist, Athrun finally stated, "I don't want him to…I don't want any of them to die!"

Dearka then smiled in true happiness as he walked up and placed a hand on Athrun's shoulder as he said, "Now that is amazing. For the first time, all three of us agree on something."

Athrun looked at Dearka in confusion for a moment before he finally got what the blonde was hinting at. He then glanced to Nicol as the green haired boy simply nodded before strapping on his helmet. Athrun finally nodded back with a smile of his own, and the three friends all quickly headed for their own mobile suits.

Watching this unfold from nearby was Dreadwing, and the Decepticon was suddenly wondering what he should do now more than ever. He was so caught up in his thoughts that he did not even notice someone approaching him until the individual placed a hand on his shoulder. Dreadwing spun around to find himself face to face with Elita One who simply told him, "I get that you want to look out for Athrun, but whatever you decide to do should be something of your own choice. Whether you actually become an Autobot or just our ally, we'll be glad to have you fighting with us, just know that if you really want to honor Skyquake then you should make a decision that is yours and yours alone, or don't. It's all up to you."

Having said her piece, the sparkmate of the last Prime then picked up her newly resupplied TechVolt and quickly transformed into her convertible car mode before racing out to catch up with the rest of the Autobots who had already rushed out into the battle along with everyone else. Dreadwing watched her go before he looked down, pondering her words through his processor, and as he did so he was reminded of the words Lacus Clyne had spoken to him when she asked if seeking revenge was the only way he could regain his honor, and of other times when she had spoken to him as well. After a short amount of time, merely a few minutes after Athrun, Dearka, and Nicol had headed out in their mobile suits, Dreadwing looked up, a determined expression on his face, and made his decision.

* * *

As soon as all of Orb's defenders had headed out to engage the enemy, the battle had become as evenly matched as it had the previous day, and with the three mobile suits of the Earth Forces fighting more efficiently this time around, it was pretty obvious things were not going to be getting any easier for the heroes of Orb. That did not mean that they were not going to put out their best in the fight though, a fact that proved to be true when the _Archangel_ and _Omega II_ landed a series of successful hits on the enemy ships, eliminating them from the battle at once. Seeing that their work was successful in that area, the two ships quickly moved to line up for their next targets and avoid the enemy fire that was headed their way, but not before the _Omega II_suffered damage to one of its cannons that rendered the weapon inoperable.

"I needed that," Ratchet called out as he had the Autobot ship return fire in earnest. Now when he said that to one of the Autobots, they merely got a scolding and sometime a hit from the medical 'Bot's wrench, but when he said that to an enemy it was a very different story. This proved to be true as he put down a heavy barrage on the ship responsible for the damage to the_Omega II_, leaving the targeted vessel all but devastated in minutes. With his handiwork done, Ratchet left the ship with the parting words, "And stay broken!"

"Whew. Remind me to be more careful around Ratchet's tools from now on, or the very least to never end up being on opposite sides as him," Mu commented from the Perfect Strike as he had the machine fire its large cannon at incoming Strike Daggers and Insecticons. This statement was quickly agreed upon by everyone who heard him.

In no time at all, the number of enemy units was quickly reduced though, thanks to the arrival of the Freedom as it burst onto the battle field, with the Aerialbots not too far behind. The three Earth Forces mobile suit pilots did not miss the blue winged mobile suit's arrival as the Calamity's eagerly chuckled, "There's the hot shot we fought yesterday."

Instantly, the three were surrounding Kira to take him down from all sides, a fact that Kira was not enjoying at all, and the fact that Starscream and Sharpshot were right alongside them was not all that helpful. Thankfully Optimus had raced out to help Kira by dealing with the two 'Cons as soon as he saw Kira in trouble, but as far as actual help went, it was not all that effective. It seemed that they would not make much headway, until someone blasted the three mobile suits from multiple directions using two beam shots and a beam boomerang, while Starscream and Sharpshot were assaulted by a barrage from above.

Looking to the sources, Kira and Optimus both saw the Justice and Dreadwing arriving on the battle field ready to join them in the fight. "All three of us completely understood what you meant Kira. If there are things in this world you want to protect sometimes you've got to fight for them," Athrun called out.

"And I have no intention of standing against you any longer Optimus Prime. I am not saying I'm joining your kind as an Autobot, but I refuse to stand by and let such plots and devious beings such as Starscream and Megatron do as they wish any longer," Dreadwing called out as he transformed and whipped out his sword.

The words of the two were further reinforced by the Blitz and the Buster coming to the aid of the Perfect Strike and the _Archangel_ respectively. Soon enough, the Freedom and the Justice were back to back alongside Optimus and Dreadwing. "Let's kick ass," Dreadwing and Athrun called out.

Kira and Optimus both smiled at the two and nodded in agreement, and the four charged into battle together. This was an action that was mirrored by Starscream's forces as the Combaticons appeared before Orb's defenders once more. With that, the fighting began to tip in the favor of Orb's defenders, but just barely.

* * *

Watching all this from close by was a Z.A.F.T submarine that was currently under the command of Rau Le Creuset. They were really only there in case Z.A.F.T. were to receive a request of assistance from Orb, though thus far they had received none, but many of them were unsure of whether or not Orb really needed it. This fact was only reinforced by the fact that the Autobots were on the battlefield fighting with Orb's forces.

At this point they were only remaining where they were for two reasons. The first was to gather data on the forces that Starscream had gathered and on the three unknown mobile suits of the Earth Forces. The second was one that was only known to Rau Le Creuset himself, and one other individual that was aboard the ship. At the moment though, as the masked soldier made his way through the submersible ship, he felt that there was another matter he should address. One that concerned the silver haired individual following shortly behind him.

"Yzak you look somewhat distressed," Le Creuset commented as he turned to face Yzak. "I'm guessing you'd like to jump into that battle and join the fighting."

"No," Yzak denied, a little too quickly though.

"The Orb government has refused all offers of aid from Z.A.F.T.," the commander reminded his only remaining subordinate. "So we've no choice."

"I am not interested," Yzak insisted.

"We'll stay and observe the battle for a bit longer, after which we'll return to Carpentaria," Le Creuset stated as he moved to continue on his way. Yzak gave a small nod in understanding at this, but still felt that there was something he wanted to address with his commander.

"Commander," Yzak called out, getting Le Creuset to pause once more and look to him to ask him what he wanted. "What's the deal with that girl sir? If she's a prisoner then shouldn't she be treated like one?"

Yzak was of course referring to Flay Allster, who Le Creuset had brought aboard after the battle of JOSH-A. Ever since then, the girl had only made one move against any of the Z.A.F.T. soldiers aboard, and that was when she was in Le Creuset's office at which point she had once again raised a gun at the masked man, only to find herself unable to shoot it. After that point, Flay had been given a standard Z.A.F.T. uniform and had pretty much become something of a secretary type of assistant to Le Creuset, hence the reason for Yzak's question. Flay was definitely not being treated like a prisoner, but rather, if anything, she was being treated like a guest.

Le Creuset simply scoffed at the question and replied, "Yzak, there's more to fighting a war than shooting guns." At Yzak's continued confusion, Le Creuset elaborated a bit more by stating, "Let's just say I've been looking for a key, and now I've found it. At least I hope so."

Feeling that he had answered Yzak's question adequately, Le Creuset then walked off, leaving Yzak to stare after the masked man as he thought to himself, _I've officially got one of the weirdest commanders in Z.A.F.T._

What Yzak did not know, was that Le Creuset had gone to the large hangar of the sub to meet with Soundwave, who had surprisingly come along on this mission with them at Megatron's orders for a special mission. When Chairman Zala and Le Creuset asked why Soundwave was being sent, Megatron had stated that the mission was one that only the Decepticon intelligence specialist could carry out. "Well," Le Creuset asked as soon as Soundwave turned to face him.

Soundwave merely answered by motioning to a figure that was hidden within the shadows just enough for only the two of them to see, and upon seeing the sight of this figure, Le Creuset could only smirk as he saw that Soundwave's mission was indeed a success.

* * *

As the battle for Onogoro raged on, the Combaticons were quick to get to the center of the action, allowing their leader to analyze the situation. Onslaught barely even needed to look around before he came to his conclusion on what needed to be done. "We need to take this island now! Starscream," Onslaught called out.

"Oh by all means Onslaught," Starscream replied as he parried Optimus's Battle Axe with his sword. "Don't let me try to stop you."

"Very well then," Onslaught stated. The leader of the Combaticons then turned to his four brothers in arms and gave one simple order. "Combaticons, combine into Bruticus!"

The response was instant, as expected of a well trained military force, as Swindle and Brawl quickly assumed their vehicle forms and raced over to Onslaught's position, spinning around as they both changed into a large leg. Onslaught then leapt into the air as he assumed his vehicle mode as well, only for it to change into a torso with a black head before landing atop the two legs. Following after this, Blast Off and Vortex were quick to fly up to the shoulders of the large behemoth and became its arms as soon as they had attached to it. Everyone that was not familiar with this ability of the Combaticons could only look up in either awe or fear as the large, metal monstrosity rose to stand up straight and shouted out, "Bruticus ONLINE!"

* * *

In the Orb command center, Cagalli and Kisaka could barely believe their eyes at what they were seeing when the massive being was formed. True they had heard of what combiners could do from Optimus, but hearing about it and seeing it were two very different things, especially when it was an enemy providing the sight.

"Dear god," Kisaka gasped.

"That thing…is a monster," Cagalli whispered in fear.

* * *

Bruticus then reared his right fist back as energy began to charge up into his fist, which meant one thing that the Autobots nearby knew very well. "Everyone, fall back! Get clear NOW," Ironhide shouted as he and the other Autobots in the line of fire raced to avoid what was coming. Thankfully, everyone else that was nearby was just as quick to react, but most of them were not so lucky to avoid the massive shockwave that came as soon as Bruticus slammed his fist into the ground.

Though the burst traveled across the ground in a straight line, it was still powerful enough to encompass anything close to its route, as several people quickly found out as their mobile suits quickly went down and a number of the Autobots were sent flying, including Ironhide. The weapons specialist was just barely able to land on his feet, only to find that probably was not the best thing for him at the moment and end up crashing on his left side.

"Ironhide," Nicol cried out as he and Arcee quickly ran over to provide cover for him. As the three began shooting off rounds at the flight type Insecticons or Bruticus, Arcee quickly noticed that she did not need to be a medical specialist of any kind to know that Ironhide's leg was seriously damaged. "Arcee to _Omega II_, Ironhide's been hit! I need an immediate med-evac now!"

"I'm fine," Ironhide tried to insist, but his argument quickly died in his throat as he grunted in pain when he tried to rise. "Okay, maybe not fine."

Arcee just ignored Ironhide in favor of Ratchet's approaching medical expertise, but to her surprise, it never came. "Arcee to _Omega II_, Ratchet do you copy? Ratchet!" Arcee received no response what-so-ever, and threw a quick glance at the Autobots' faithful ship to see it just sitting there as though it were dead in the water.

"What's wrong," Nicol asked as the Blitz launched a missile at some opponents.

"Ratchet's not responding," Arcee replied as she quickly moved to radio someone else instead. "Optimus this is Arcee. I think something's wrong on the _Omega II_. I've lost contact with Ratchet."

Optimus quickly used his Battle Axe to push Starscream's blade aside and knocked the Seeker back before responding, "Acknowledged. Optimus to any available Aerialbots, we need to get someone aboard the _Omega II_ at once."

"I'll handle it Optimus," Elita said as she landed a hard kick to an Insecticon. "As the only other medical officer of our unit, it'd be best if I were to return to the ship in case something has happened to Ratchet."

"Understood," Optimus agreed. "Aerialbots…?"

"This is Wing Saber, I heard everything and I'm already enroute," Wing Saber shouted out. The moment he was passing overhead, Elita took a massive jump and landed onto his back. The two then flew directly over the _Omega II_, before Elita hopped off of Wing Saber and onto the massive yellow vessel. She had to blast some 'Cons out of her way with the TechVolt, but all the same Elita made it aboard the ship in no time at all.

When she reached the bridge though, Elita was greeted with a terrible sight. "Optimus, the bridge has been trashed. It's almost like there was a fight on board the ship itself," Elita called out.

"And Ratchet," Optimus asked as he and Dreadwing opened fire on their opponents with their blasters.

"…There's no sign of him at all," Elita stated. This was not news that Optimus wanted to hear, nor any other Autobot, but all the same they could not let that distract them now.

"Elita, take command of the ship in Ratchet's place," Optimus ordered. After acknowledging the order, Elita quickly worked to get Ironhide aboard so she could give him enough medical treatment to ensure he could at least help fire the ship's guns.

While that was going on, Bruticus was about to get a visit from one Autobot in particular, who wanted to pay a visit to his old opponent from the battle for the _Ark_. "Hey Bruticus, choke on this," Jazz called out as he used his grapple to swing up onto the large Decepticon's shoulder and fired several rounds from his Scatter Blaster into Bruticus's face.

"Why you! Bruticus smash Jazz," Bruticus roared as he swatted Jazz off of him like a fly, and then brought up his spinning blade shield.

"Oh no, nononono, no. There is no way I'm going near that thing," Jazz stated, knowing what Bruticus's shield could do to him. "Hey Wing Saber, you done playing public transport so you can help your team give me a hand here, or do you need another minute?"

"We're already moving into position now Jazz," Wing Saber reported. "We're just waiting for a go ahead."

"There's no time for that now," Optimus shouted as he and Kira blasted their opponents back while Dreadwing and Athrun both sliced at theirs.

"Understood sir," Silverbolt stated. With that said, all five Aerialbots quickly flew into a V-shape formation with Silverbolt at the forefront, as the leader of the Autobot flyers unit gave his own command. "Aerialbots! Combine into Superion!"

At that order, Jetfire and Jetstorm quickly blasted ahead of the others and transformed into legs just as Swindle and Brawl had just moments earlier, hitting the ground with a loud boom. Immediately following this, Silverbolt's space shuttle form shifted into a torso with a gold faced head that had silver horns and blue optics, and connected to the two legs. Immediately following this, Air Raid and Wing Saber transformed into a left and right arm respectively before attaching to the torso themselves. This time when everyone looked up in awe, it was the Earth Forces who were fearful as the Autobot combiner called out, "Superion online and ready for action!"

Bruticus did not miss the appearance of his old rival and quickly charged at Superion, which the Autobot combiner was quick to meet with a loud battle cry. At the sight of the two titans of titans clashing, it seemed that the battle for Orb was quickly turning even once more, until the three Earth Forces machines found themselves forced to fall back in order to resupply. At that point, the Autobots and the _Archangel_ received orders from Lord Uzumi that all surviving forces were to fall back Kaguya, where Orb's mass driver facilities were located, with the two ships leading them.

Superion acknowledged the orders and quickly hit Bruticus hard in the side and blasting the Decepticon back with pair of laser cannons that were mounted on his right arm before shouting out, "Go Autobots, I'll cover you!"

Optimus sent Superion his thanks and then ordered the Autobots to fall back to the _Omega II_ before retreating to Kaguya with the _Archangel_. None of them could even begin to guess what Lord Uzumi had planned for when they arrived.

* * *

"Leave Orb," Murrue asked in shock. "Lord Uzumi are you telling us to just run away?"

It certainly seemed that way, for as soon as the _Archangel_ and _Omega II_ had reached the mass driver station, the white ship's commanders, Optimus, Kira, Cagalli, Athrun, Dearka, and Nicol had come to speak with Lord Uzumi about what his plan was, and this was it. "I'm sure you've realized by now Orb is already lost. It's only a matter of time before it falls."

While everyone could not deny that this was true, it did not mean that they wanted to say it aloud, least of all Cagalli. "Wh-what're you saying father," the blonde asked, barely believing her ears.

Uzumi simply lowered his head for a moment before continuing. "Our people have been evacuated. They'll be taken care of elsewhere." He then raised his head before facing his daughter and those around the two of them. "From now on we'll bear the responsibility."

Cagalli gasped in shock, quickly beginning to get an idea of what that would mean, but she did not interrupt as her father continued, "But even if we must lose Orb, there are some things we must never give up. The Earth Forces' present actions are being guided by the leader of Blue Cosmos, Murruta Azrael. To make matters worse, the PLANTs are led by someone who believes that Coordinators are a new species, for Patrick Zala leads them now."

Everyone could only softly gasp at the thought of the leader of the terrorist organization playing such a major role in commanding the Earth Forces, but at hearing of what Patrick Zala was doing, Athrun could only look down in shame while Kira, Nicol, Dearka, and Dreadwing gave him sympathetic glances.

"The way things are developing, the world will be trapped between two forces that refuse to accept each other's existence. Is this the future you want to see? If you desire a different world, take this small light of hope that we have kindled and use it to set a course for a new future." Lord Uzumi paused only for a second to give them all a sympathetic look before he continued. "It means a hard road again, but I'm sure you understand why it's necessary Murrue Ramius, Optimus Prime."

Optimus remained silent as he simply nodded in response to this, while Murrue looked confidently at Uzumi as she stated, "That light may be small but it burns brightly. We believe in it as well."

"Then I suggest you get ready," Lord Uzumi told them. With that, and a final yes sir from Murrue, everyone quickly left to prepare for the launches that were coming, until only Lord Uzumi, Cagalli, and Optimus were left in the room they were all meeting in. Lord Uzumi then turned to his daughter and asked, "Cagalli, could you give us a minute? There is something I wish to speak to Optimus about in private."

Cagalli hesitated before she finally nodded in consent and left, leaving the two leaders alone. Before Lord Uzumi could say anything though, Optimus spoke up saying, "I know what you are planning Lord Uzumi, and I must insist you think of another way. You do not have to remain behind, and you still have a daughter who needs you."

Lord Uzumi lowered his head with his eyes for a moment before he raised it again and looked Optimus right in the eye as he replied, "I have thought of every way possible Optimus, but I'm afraid that this is our best option. It truly breaks my heart knowing that I will be leaving Cagalli like this, but if I want to ensure a better future for her then I must do this. I believe that Cagalli has reached the age where she does not need me as much as she once used to anymore, but if you will allow me to, I have one request of you that might seem rather selfish of me."

Optimus looked deeply into Lord Uzumi's eyes, and saw that the man before him was begging that the last Prime at least hear his request, so he simply nodded in consent to allow the leader of Orb to speak his request. "When she does need a father figure in her life, I would like to ask that you take on that role in my stead. I know that may be asking a bit much, but I believe that even though she will not need a father figure as much in the future, it will help Cagalli to have one of some kind, and I can think of no one better suited for the task than you, Optimus Prime."

Optimus paused for a moment to consider this request, before he finally nodded saying, "I swear to you by the Matrix and by Primus's spark Lord Uzumi that I and all of the Autobots will be there for Cagalli when she needs us."

Lord Uzumi gave Optimus a grateful smile and then bowed to the large red and blue Autobot as he said, "Thank you. Thank you so much Optimus Prime. I know that Cagalli will face difficult times ahead, but I now know for certain that she will never be alone. She will be with you, with her big sister, Arcee, and most importantly, she will be with her brother."

Optimus looked at Lord Uzumi in confusion for a moment, before a look of realization dawned on his face, as he realized what he meant by that. Following this, Optimus nodded in understanding and then told the leader of Orb, "Lord Uzumi Nara Athha, the Lion of Orb. Your sacrifice will not be forgotten."

Lord Uzumi nodded at Optimus in thanks for that and remembered something that Ratchet once told him served as a type of farewell among the Autobots, which led him to say, "Till all are one Optimus Prime."

Optimus nodded and replied, "Till all are one…my friend." With that, Optimus turned to leave the building and return to the _Omega II_, knowing that the battles that now lay ahead of them, were to be their most difficult and challenging yet, and would require them all to be much more than meets the eye than ever before.

* * *

As everyone finished with the preparations for their departure, Optimus had the Autobots prepare themselves for a battle to cover the _Archangel_ and the _Omega II_, which would be able to use the mass driver as well if they were to maneuver the ship a little ways just above the tracks enough to make it effective without the massive ship crushing the driver beneath its weight. Knowing that a battle was approaching, Optimus decided it be best if the Buster and the Blitz board the _Archangel_ and launch with them first, while the only Autobots who remained would be himself and Superion, along with Dreadwing, Kira, and Athrun. Superion would break away from the battle just before the _Omega II_ reached maximum launch speed while the remaining four would handle everything else and board the _Kusanagi_ as it launched into space.

As soon as the alert of approaching enemies sounded, the _Archangel_ quickly moved to take off and in no time at all, the white ship was blasting off through the atmosphere and back into space. The Calamity moved to fire on the ship as it retreated while Bruticus prepared his own weapons to strike at the _Omega II_, but before they could make a move, they found themselves under attack by the Freedom and the Justice and Superion, Optimus, and Dreadwing respectively.

In the battle that ensued, Optimus was utilizing the jet pack he had acquired from the _Omega II_ to its fullest extent while Dreadwing provided him support when necessary, with Superion matching Bruticus blow for blow but not going all out enough to actually put up more than a defensive fight. As soon as the Aerialbot combiner saw the _Omega II_ was nearly at maximum launch speed, he broke off combat with Bruticus by hitting him hard enough with both of his arm cannons and knocking the Decepticon into stasis, and then separated into the five Aerialbots once more to race aboard the _Omega II_. As soon as Silverbolt and his team were aboard, the _Omega II_ blasted into the space right behind the _Archangel_, leaving only Kira, Athrun, Optimus, Dreadwing, and the _Kusanagi_ left to head out.

Cagalli was begging as hard as she could for her father to come with them, but Lord Uzumi's mind was already made up, and he told Kisaka to go and take Cagalli with him as he pushed the blonde through the _Kusanagi_'s hatch. Lord Uzumi placed a hand atop Cagalli's head one last time as he told her, "You're leaving your father, but you will not be alone Cagalli. You will be with Optimus, who has sworn to be there for you when I am not should you ever need a father figure. You will be with Arcee, whom you consider an older sister, and you will be with one other as well."

He then reached into his jacket pocket to pull out a photograph that he handed to his daughter as he finished what he was telling her. "You'll be with your brother."

Cagalli looked at her father in confusion before accepting the photo. Looking at it, she saw the image of a woman holding two babies, one with a small amount of blonde hair, and the other with brown hair. Cagalli then flipped the photo over to see two names written on the back that gave her an unbelievable shock. The names written there, the names of the two babies in the picture, were hers and Kira's.

_Kira…is my brother,_ the blonde thought. Cagalli could not believe her eyes, and simply gasped in shock as she looked at her father with a look that went with it, which Lord Uzumi responded to with a simple nod. "I feel very fortunate, to have been your father," Lord Uzumi told Cagalli as the door to the ship closed. Lord Uzumi then called out, "Fly Kisaka! Roll out Optimus Prime! I'm counting on you both!"

The _Kusanagi_ then blasted down the mass driver, taking its passengers with it. When Optimus noticed this, he quickly called out, "Kira, Athrun, Dreadwing! It's time for us to go!"

"Right," the three replied in unison. With that they all flew directly for the _Kusanagi_ with the Freedom and Dreadwing landing on the ship first. As soon as the two had a firm grip on the ship, they both spun around and reached out to the Justice and Optimus so that they could grab their hands. For a moment, it seemed that the two would not make it, but with one last hard push, the Justice and Optimus were able to grasp the hands of the Freedom and Dreadwing, allowing the two to pull them aboard with them.

"Thank you Dreadwing," Optimus stated.

"You…are welcome Optimus," Dreadwing replied, still not quite used to the fact he was now fighting alongside the Autobots. "But thank me after we deal with the trash following us."

"We won't need to," Optimus revealed. A moment later, Kira and Athrun nodded to each other, catching onto what Optimus was stating, and armed their mobile suits with all of their long range weapons that they could. With one powerful burst from all the weapons, the two were able to throw their three pursues off and the _Kusanagi_ was able to fly swiftly into space, leaving Onogoro and Orb behind.

* * *

Seeing that the last of the three ships had lifted off, Lord Uzumi nodded to his fellow representatives of Orb and stated, "The seeds have flown. We've succeeded! We can't leave Orb or this world in the hands of those bastards."

With that said, Lord Uzumi flipped a switch and then hit the button which began the explosions. In a matter of moments, Morgenroete and the Orb mass driver was consumed in a fiery blaze as they all began self destructing. As it blaze consumed him, Lord Uzumi looked to the stars, and before he vanished into the inferno, he gave one last wish. _Farewell Cagalli, my little lioness. Please be safe, and remember I will always love you. Take care of her Kira Yamato, Arcee, Bumblebee, and Optimus Prime._

* * *

As they watched the explosions take the Orb facilities that they were after, the Earth Forces could only gasp in shock, while Murruta Azrael gained a furious expression at the sight before him._Damn you Uzumi Nara Athha!_

Meanwhile, Starscream looked upon the sight and merely gave a small chuckle at the development that had occurred before them. "Well now, I will admit the destruction of Orb by Lord Uzumi's own hands is unexpected, but not unplanned for. Still I cannot deny that this proved to be a magnificent battle, and I suppose that the lion of Orb was a somewhat worthy opponent. Farewell Uzumi Nara Athha, it could've gone the other way."

"Starscream, you really think that it really could've," Sharpshot buzzed.

"No, but why speak ill of the dead," Starscream told him. With that said, Starscream just let out a soft cackle as he led his forces in full retreat, leaving some to wonder just what exactly Starscream was really planning.

* * *

As they watched the inferno consume Orb and Onogoro Island, Kira and Athrun could barely stand the sight of the lost as they along with Optimus, Dreadwing, and Kisaka all turned their heads away to bow them in sadness as they prayed for a peaceful rest for the people who had died all the while, feeling tears come to their own eyes, as one blonde, amber eyed girl heavily sobbed as she cried out for the man she had called father.

* * *

**_AN: Okay so for those of you who did NOT want me to kill off Lord Uzumi, my apologies, but there was no way for me to advance the story right without leaving that there. In regards to that, I just want to say that I really don't enjoy killing off characters in stories that I write, whether it be part of the original continuity or an OC that I added in or whatever, and writing that last bit of this chapter really made me come close to crying my eyes out right along with Cagalli. I may be a man, but I am not afraid to cry. To quote Gundam Unicorn, "Crying because you care is a totally different matter"._**

**_That being said, in response to a review from "Lone Gundam", I agree Cagalli went from the major bad ass girl she was in Gundam SEED to total whimp for the first...portion of Gundam SEED Destiny, and while she will be similar to that state, it won't be exactly the same, mostly because personally I feel that the way she was depicted at that time was not really accurate. Don't get me wrong losing a parent can be quite rattling for someone (For further examples see Bruce Wayne), and the fact she was something of an amateur politician dealing with experienced and manipulative ones was overwhelming as well, but I really don't think someone like Cagalli would just give in to those people so easily. This time around, she'll be able to have a lot of extra help with the Autobots and her other friends and she'll be a lot tougher too, but I can't say anymore beyond that without giving away what will happen in the sequel, but then again maybe I've already said too much on that matter._**

**_Anyhow, with that said and done, Onto the preview!..._**

**_Our heroes have returned to space once more, and they can feel that the final battle is now on the horizon. As the Autobots take every measure to ensure they are ready, Cagalli comes to Arcee, Bumblebee, Athrun, and Kira to speak with them about the revelation that her father had given her. Feeling he is still unsure of many things, Athrun decides to return to the PLANTs to confront his father once more, but will he find what he hopes, or will all his hopes be shattered like glass? With the time quickly approaching, Lacus and her followers begin to make their move as well, but will they be able to escape? What is Megatron planning, and the question that runs foremost in the minds of all the Autobots, what happened to Ratchet? Next time on Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Prime…_****Chapter 25: Dawn of a New Light****_. Cut through the darkness as you seek out the truth Gundam and Dreadwing!_**

**_Please read and review, and I'll see you next time! Which will be as soon as I get my breath back from writing this seriously long chapter. [collapses to take a loooooong nap]_**


	25. 25: Dawn of a New Light

_**AN: Welcome ladies and gentlemen to the next chapter of this fanfiction. This chapter is the first mark of the fact that we are nearing the end of the long journey.**_

**_Kira: It's actually kind of sad when you think about it, and all that we've been through._**

**_Elita: Yeah you can say that again._**

**_Optimus: Never the less, we shall see to it that this story shall receive an ending that it deserves._**

**_Cagalli: Hey what are you guys talking about? Remember this is the first in a trilogy, it's not like it's completely over for us yet. I mean there's still the sequel to this story alone and the third story both of which will have us facing..._**

**_AN: WAH! SPOILER! [hits a control that drops a large hammer on Cagalli that misses (sadly)]_**

**_Cagalli: Hey I saw that last part! AND WHAT THE HELL?! I WAS JUST SAYING THAT IT'S NOT OVER YET BECAUSE WE'VE STILL GOT TO DEAL WITH..._**

**_AN: DAH! SHE'S STILL GOING! [hits another control and this time an anvil drops on Cagalli]_**

**_Mu: Seriously? An anvil? One of the oldest cartoon cliches?_**

**_AN: Well I can't take all the credit for that one. One of my reviews suggested it and I thought it would be funny. And it was._**

**_Kira: Uh, can someone help me get Cagalli out from under here?_**

**_[Everyone looks at AN]_**

**_AN: Nope. I write this thing. I am not risking Cagalli ending this story by putting me five feet under._**

**_Optimus: Perhaps we should move to the story._**

**_Elita: I got the disclaimer! lyokoMARVELanime does not own anything from any of the Gundam or Transformers franchises or any other franchise mentioned in this story._**

* * *

**Chapter 25: Dawn of a New Light**

It had been a few hours since the _Archangel_, the _Omega II_, and the _Kusanagi_ had reached space, and everyone had taken a moment to pause in order to do two things. One was ensuring the _Kusanagi_ had completely assembled from the five compartments that made up the ship, and the other was taking a moment to grieve over the loss of the Orb nation and her leaders. It was especially hard on Cagalli, so much so that Kisaka found he could not bring himself to tell her not to cry, and Arcee found herself wishing that she could send her Holo-form through the Ground Bridge to console the girl, but right then and there, they needed to deal with a few other matters.

For the reason of discussing those matters, everyone had agreed to meet on the _Omega II_, since at the moment it was the only way they could all meet face to face without the Autobots all using their holo-forms. Now don't misunderstand, the Autobots did not mind using said function, but the holo-forms did have a downside of rendering their actual bodies inactive during the time that they were in use, and since they needed to be alert at all times right now, it seemed more practical to meet on the Autobot vessel instead of doing otherwise. So, after Murrue, Mu, Kira, and Athrun had all taken a tour of the _Kusanagi_, and met up with Chief Erica Simmons, they all took a Ground Bridge over to the _Omega II_, only pausing for a moment to allow Kira and Athrun a moment to help Cagalli calm down enough so that she would be able to come too.

Once everyone had arrived in the ship's Ground Bridge room, everyone who had not been aboard the massive vessel before took a moment to look around and gaze in awe of how the ship seemed just as big up close on the inside as it did on the outside before Bumblebee and Arcee both got everyone's attention. "Welcome aboard everyone," Arcee proclaimed with a smirk. "Optimus and the others are all waiting for us in the observation room."

With that said, the two Autobots began to lead everyone in the group to said location of the ship, and upon their arrival they all saw that Arcee was not kidding when she said that Optimus and the others were waiting for them, because Dreadwing and every Autobot was actually gathered there, except for one. "Hey where's Ratchet," Erica asked.

All the 'Bots immediately gained a somber look at this before Wheeljack stated, "We're not sure."

"What do you mean by that? How can you not be sure where one of your own friends is when he was right here on this ship back in Orb," Cagalli demanded, with slight worry in her voice that was cracking a bit still from the crying she had been doing earlier.

"That's just it, Ratchet wasn't always aboard in Orb," Elita replied sadly. "Sometime during the battle, Ratchet just vanished, and none of us knew about it until after Ironhide got hit by Bruticus's attack and Arcee had called for Ratchet to get him onto the ship."

"Well no one just vanishes," Mu pointed out. "I mean something had to have happened to him right? Did you check over any security videos you might have or whatever?"

"We did," Jazz replied. "Hound and I looked over the videos while we were waiting for you guys. Sometime after he had blasted apart some of the Earth Forces' ships, namely when he hit one ship with a barrage and shouted 'And stay broken' something seemed to get aboard the ship, catching his attention. After that though, it's not really clear what had happened."

"What do you mean," Kisaka asked.

"It's probably best if you were to see for yourselves," Hound answered as he brought up a holographic screen with the video on it. In the video, everyone could see that Ratchet was doing everything he could to keep the ship going while taking out the enemy ships, including the point that Jazz had mentioned a moment ago, reminding Mu of what he had said back in Orb the first time he saw it happened. Then a strange clanking noise resounded from off screen, drawing Ratchet's attention as he called out asking if someone was there. They all saw the medical 'Bot get more on edge as he switched his hands into his arm blades, until finally Ratchet let out a scream of fright and the video went dead. The feed did not return until later when Elita had come aboard the ship looking for Ratchet and only finding the bridge in its wrecked disarrayed state instead.

With the video having come to an end, Hound shut off the holo-screen and turned to everyone as he announced, "I think it's pretty clear what happened. Someone or something got aboard the ship while we were all being kept busy with the Earth Forces and Starscream's new Decepticon team and took the doc, but whatever reason that might be, we can only guess."

**_"_****_Well Ratchet is our chief medical officer and the best medic in all the Autobots. Maybe whoever did this thought that if they got rid of him it would be easier to beat us since we didn't have Ratchet's medical expertise to patch us up,"_** Bumblebee suggested, with Kira translating for everyone who could not understand him.

"And not to mention that Ratchet has done a lot of tech work for us as well since we came to Earth," Arcee pointed out. "Without him the _Omega II_ wouldn't be at the level it is today. Plus he has also been working on other projects as well right, maybe the 'Cons of either group found out and grabbed him for that reason."

"All reasonable explanations for the why, but it still doesn't tell us who took him," Elita half shouted as she slammed a hand on the nearby table, getting everyone to jump.

"Be that as it may Elita, it is no one's fault that this happened, and whatever the case may be we will rescue Ratchet, no matter what it takes," Optimus reassured his sparkmate softly as he placed his hand atop hers. Elita smiled at Optimus in thanks for that before Optimus then returned everyone's attention to the main topic at hand saying, "But despite the temporary loss of Ratchet, we have more pressing concerns at the moment that we must address."

Kira could see the look in Optimus's eyes showed that the last Prime wanted more than anything to go out and look for his old friend, and that Optimus was probably infinitely more worried about Ratchet than any other Autobot. Despite this, Kira had to nod in agreement with Optimus's last statement as he could see that Optimus was doing his best to put the well being of the whole group ahead of his own desires, just like a true leader would be expected to do in these situations.

Bulkhead then hit some commands on the console as the meeting officially began with Kisaka taking the lead. "This is our present position," Kisaka stated, indicating the appropriate indicator on the screen which was displaying a map of the area of Space that Earth and the PLANTs took up as a whole. "As you are all aware the PLANTs are at L5 while Artemis is at L3. Proceeding to either of these locations would not be ideal for obvious reasons, which is why I suggest we head for the L4 colony group for starters."

"The L4 colony group," Bulkhead asked. "Why there?"

"Neither the _Kusanagi_, nor the _Archangel_ will have to worry about resupplying for a while but that doesn't mean the supplies will last indefinitely. Water in particular will become a problem very soon, and as for the _Omega II_ I really can't say how long it will last before needing resupplying as well. The group of colonies at L4 were damaged and abandoned after the war began. They may be uninhabited but they'll be useful as water resources."

"This sounds awfully familiar," Murrue remarked somewhat solemnly.

**_"_****_Yeah it sounds kinda like what the _****Archangel****_ was doing back when you guys first found me adrift in space. Kinda seems like coming full circle huh,"_** Bumblebee whirred, with Cagalli translating somewhat absentmindedly this time and Arcee giving a small chuckle at the scout's comment. The fact Arcee did chuckle made her freeze for a moment wondering why she thought that was actually funny, but she was quick to shake it off.

"It'll be alright. This is different from Junius Seven," Mu reassured his girlfriend and everyone else, the former more so than the latter.

"You know I'm pretty sure there are still some functioning colonies at L4," Athrun stated, speaking for the first time since the meeting started and getting surprised looks from everyone as he got their attention. "Z.A.F.T. investigated the area after reports of a suspicious group hold up there. However this was quite a long time ago. Although no one really lives there anymore, some of the colonies still have functioning facilities."

"Yes I remember reading of those reports myself after Z.A.F.T. allowed the _Nemesis_ to access their files," Dreadwing stated, also gaining everyone's attention for the same reason as Athrun had. "As such, Megatron had Soundwave lead an investigation team to see for themselves if the rumors were true or not, but they came up with nothing. It was suspected that the colony had somehow become capable of forming its own energon reserves in time, but since Megatron did not wish to simply watch and wait for that when he knew there were already reserves that were being mined on Earth he decided to leave it alone.

"That sounds perfect for all of us," Kira exclaimed happily, making a lot of the Autobots smile at how happy Kira seemed to be to have Athrun helping them out, and just having his childhood friend back on the same side as him period.

"There is one thing though," Mu commented, looking directly at Athrun and Dreadwing as he did. "Are you two okay with this? And not just you two, this question's for those other guys from Z.A.F.T. as well."

"Commander," Murrue stated, feeling that he was pushing the issue a little too soon, but Wheeljack interrupted before she could try to say anymore.

"No Mu's right," the sword wielding Wrecker stated. "We all saw you guys fight at Orb, and your actions spoke for themselves, but we can't help noticing the uniforms you guys are still wearing, or the emblem that Dreadwing's still wearing."

"Exactly, and depending on what happens I think the odds are pretty good that we're gonna end up fighting against Z.A.F.T. forces and Megatron's forces as well, not just Starscream's," Mu continued. "It won't be like Orb at all. Are you ready, really ready? I mean you are Patrick Zala's son and Megatron's most loyal soldier right?"

Now that seemed to bring Cagalli out of her absentminded state as she glared a bit at Mu. "Why should it matter to you who's son Athrun is, or who's soldier Dreadwing is? Athrun and Dreadwing are their…"

"For a soldier to desert his army, it's a much more serious matter than you seem to realize, especially for the 'Cons," Wheeljack cut in. "And not only that, but imagine if your father was the leader of the nation as well, or that the leader of the army was someone you were extremely loyal to for so long! You can't fight in a war unless you believe in the cause your side is fighting for, and things aren't so simple when you turn that belief on its head!"

Mu then added on one last thing to Wheeljack's rant. "Unlike Kira, Athrun's a regular soldier of the Z.A.F.T. military and Dreadwing has been with the Decepticons for eons. Both Wheeljack and I hate to force the issue, but I have to know. Can I count on you guys if we fight together?"

Everyone was silent for a moment, waiting in anticipation for a response from either Athrun or Dreadwing, until Athrun finally spoke up, at least for himself. "While I was at Orb…no, even before then in the PLANTs and on Earth, I've thought about a lot of things that I'd seen and heard. About what is right and what is wrong; what am I understanding and what am I not. I don't have the answers to these basic questions yet, but it's clear to me now that you people hold the same hopes for this world that I do, and that's how I feel right now."

After Athrun had said his piece, everyone was now just waiting on Dreadwing, who simply gained a determined look after hearing what Athrun had said and stated, "My days of being what some would describe as that of a loyal dog to Megatron are now over. After finding out about what happened to my brother, Skyquake, and what happened in Orb I think I now know what I should really be doing. No, that's not accurate; I think I've known what I should've done for a long time now, but I just didn't want to admit it. Though most of my kind will see my fighting beside you as an ultimate betrayal, I do not intend to blindly follow orders and never once question whether or not it would go against my honor and beliefs. That is why I am now certain that I at least belong here, not as an official Autobot but at least as an ally of them."

Everyone smiled and nodded happily at hearing the two say what they did, leading Mu to go so far as to comment, "Glad to hear that, and Athrun, you sound like a pretty determined fellow. Nothing like our Kira here."

If everyone was expecting Kira to be offended by that, they were disappointed as Kira simply smirked and stated, "Since we were little."

"It's quite an obligation that Orb has now entrusted to us all, and it's anything but a small task," Jazz then stated. "Not to mention that we're only three ships and a few Autobots, so what we're trying to do may be impossible, and everyone's still cool with this?"

Athrun glanced up to answer when he noticed Cagalli staring happily at him. When the blonde noticed this, she quickly glanced away in an attempt to hide the quickly growing blush, getting Athrun more curious, and causing both to almost miss Kira saying, "We have faith, because even if it's small, a strong light won't fade away."

Everyone smiled in agreement with this, and then Athrun thought he should mention something else important as he stated, "You know there are people in the PLANTs who feel the same way."

"Lacus," Kira asked, getting a nod in reply from Athrun and Jetfire, along with a small shocked expression from Bumblebee.

**_"_****_You mean that girl from back when I was first brought onboard the _****Archangel****_? How would you know for certain about that,"_** Bumblebee asked, just for clarification.

"She's Athrun's fiancée," Kira replied, getting a shocked expression from everyone who did not know, but especially Cagalli.

"Ex-fiancée actually," Athrun cut in. He then glared angrily at the ground as he told them what he had found out had happened after Kira and Jetfire left the PLANTs.

"It would seem that Miss Lacus Clyne would make a valuable ally in the future if we need her, but for now, we must focus on heading for the L4 colonies in order to setup a temporary base of operations, at least for the time being," Optimus then stated, getting everyone to nod in agreement. Seeing this, Optimus then added, "As of now, we can no longer take any chances in battle. For this reason, the Autobots will have to use every resource available to us and make certain that we are ready for everything, and that includes using our most powerful weapons."

As Optimus said this, he walked over to one of the walls in the room and hit a switch which caused the wall to open up and reveal that it was a storage station. The last Prime then pulled the item stored within the storage unit out and revealed it to be the familiar form of the legendary Star Saber sword that Kira, Ironhide, and Erica had helped him to retrieve. Having made sure that everyone saw the blade long enough to understand his meaning, Optimus then hefted the blade and stored it in a small carrying hilt that Ratchet had designed for Optimus to use specifically for the Star Saber, before the medical 'Bot disappeared.

Everyone knew that Optimus was definitely serious if he was really intending on carrying the Star Saber with him at all times now, and it was definitely a sign that the last Prime was no longer intending on holding anything back. The Autobots all understood this better than anyone else in the room, since they all knew that shortly after Optimus had returned from the mission to retrieve said sword, the last Prime had stated the sword's power was so great that it was only to be wielded in the most serious or most dire of situations, and the times they were now facing were clearly going to be some of those times.

Seeing all of this, led everyone to believe that the meeting had been finished for now, and so they all moved to return to where they needed to be right then and get back to work so that the three ships could head for the L4 colonies. As he and Athrun were about to leave though, Cagalli called out to Kira saying, "Kira, we should talk."

Kira was confused at first, but knowing what Cagalli was going through right now, he was more than happy to help the girl. Athrun just smiled at him and stated, "Just take your time. I'll see you guys later."

"No wait," Cagalli called out, stopping Athrun. "Athrun, stay here okay? I mean, please stay here."

Athrun could see that Cagalli really wanted him to stay, so he simply nodded in agreement and let her lead them off somewhere. Kira then asked, "Is it okay if Bumblebee and Arcee come too?"

"Yeah it's fine," Cagalli replied. "Actually, I want them to hear about this as well and Optimus too if possible."

Optimus nodded in agreement with this, having heard what the three were saying, and then motioned for Arcee and Bumblebee to come with them to another room.

* * *

Feeling that it would help with things, Optimus elected to have them all speak in his personal quarters, something that only Elita One had been able to do most of the time. Though the room itself was not all that impressive, there was still something about knowing it was Optimus's that gave it a safe, welcoming feeling.

Seeing that everyone had gotten settled for whatever Cagalli wanted to talk about, Kira turned to the blonde and asked, "Something on your mind Cagalli?"

Cagalli hesitated for a moment before she reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out the photograph that her father had given to her before he died. "It's this," Cagalli told Kira, handing him the picture.

"A photo," Arcee asked. "Who's in it?"

"Other side,' Cagalli whispered in reply.

Kira then flipped the photo over as Cagalli had said he should as Athrun looked over his shoulder with Arcee and Bumblebee looking on from where they could see it as well, and gasped in shock when he saw both Cagalli's and his own name written on the back. The four then looked at Cagalli in questioning surprise, wondering how she got it. "My father gave me this photo, just as I was boarding the _Kusanagi_," Cagalli explained, already feeling the tears coming to her eyes. "He said that I wouldn't be alone. That I'd be with Optimus, who had sworn to be there for me if I ever needed a father figure, that I'd be with Arcee whom I consider an older sister, and that…that I'd be with my brother!"

**_"_****_Brother?! Kira's your brother? You're…Kira's sister?! Seriously, WHAT,"_** Bumblebee sputtered in his beeps and whirrs, not paying attention to where he was stepping until he tripped and nearly fell to the floor until Arcee caught him. **_"Uh…sorry about that."_**

"N-no it's…it's alright," Arcee stuttered, blushing a little as she did. _Wait, why am I blushing? And did I really just stutter?! Get it together Arcee; your little sister needs you right now...I wonder if this is how Chromia felt some days when she was looking out for me._

Cagalli finally started to break down and cry again as she latched onto Athrun for emotional support, which Athrun provided somewhat hesitantly at first since he was still in shock over this fact as well. As she cried a bit, Cagalli moaned, "What's all this supposed to mean?"

"I don't know," Kira whispered, still in shock himself. "I honestly don't have a clue."

Athrun looked back and forth between the two as he tried to process it all himself, realizing that his best friend had a sister that not even Kira knew about, and not just a sister at that either. "Twins…," Athrun breathed out.

"And here I thought Ratchet was just seeing things in his old age," Arcee muttered, causing the three humans to look at her strangely. Arcee then realized what she had let slip and immediately looked sheepish, until Bumblebee started chuckling at the fact that it was finally her who was looking that way instead of him for once which led to Arcee throwing the scout an annoyed glare.

"Did…did you guys know," Kira asked.

Optimus thought it would be best if he were the one to tell the three, not because he did not trust Arcee and Bumblebee to do so, but because he did not want Arcee to dig a bigger grave for herself than she was already starting to have. "Ratchet merely suspected that Kira and Cagalli may be related in some sense since his scanners from trips that the two had taken through the Ground Bridge indicated some genetic similarities that one would find among family members. As for whether or not the two of you were actually related, I cannot say whether or not he found that out for sure, but from what I understand from his last report on the matter, it appeared that you two being brother and sister was most definitely the case."

Bumblebee then stared at Kira and Cagalli himself for a moment before commenting, **_"You know, when you look at the two of them for a moment, there do seem to be some similarities between Kira and Cagalli."_**

"Yeah, I guess there is, but that definitely doesn't apply to their usual attitudes and personalities," Arcee added, getting a small chuckle from Cagalli at that.

"In any case, an inconclusive report from Ratchet and this picture doesn't really prove anything," Kira stated. "Though to be honest it would actually explain a few things."

**_"_****_You mean like that weird familiar feeling you got around Cagalli that you told me about awhile back,"_** Bumblebee asked.

"Yeah exactly," Kira stated. "But it still leaves a few things unanswered."

"Like who's the woman holding the babies," Athrun finished. Cagalli just shook her head to indicate that she did not know, but there was something else about this that was still bugging her.

"If Kira and I are siblings, then what am I," Cagalli asked, getting everyone to realize what one thing she was really confused about was. This revelation had made Cagalli question her identity as a person and whether or not she was a Natural or a Coordinator.

"Cagalli, look at me," Arcee told her little sister figure. As soon as the blonde's gaze had locked with Arcee's, the two wheeler stated, "Ratchet and Elita have done multiple scans to truly understand just what the real differences between Naturals and Coordinators really were, and I can say with absolute certainty that you are definitely a Natural, but as to why Kira's a Coordinator and you're not, I can't say. If you ask me though, that kind of thing doesn't make a scrap of difference."

"Arcee's right," Kira added. "And dwelling on it now won't do you any good Cagalli, and even if it's true, it doesn't change the fact that Lord Uzumi was still your father."

"Kira…," Cagalli whispered, and then she grabbed both Kira and Athrun in a tight hug, continuing to cry the whole time.

Seeing that the young humans needed a bit of time, Optimus thought it would be best for him to leave in order to give them that space. Before he did though, Optimus turned to Cagalli and told her, "I did give my word that the Autobots and I would stand in for Lord Uzumi whenever you felt that you would need a father figure in your life Cagalli, and I assure you that I would keep that promise even if your father had not asked it of me. To me, you, Kira, and all the other humans I have met, fought alongside of, and developed a bond with are all just as much a part of my family as the other Autobots are."

Cagalli nodded to Optimus in thanks for that, and the last Prime returned the gesture before he left the room to return to the bridge in order to oversee the _Omega II_'s safe travels to the L4 colonies with the other two ships in their group, leaving the three humans and the other two Autobots behind so that this small part of the growing family could have time to help one and other cope with the revelation that they all just had and everything else that they needed to deal with.

* * *

A short while later, Kira and Athrun had returned to the _Archangel_ via a Ground Bridge, leaving Cagalli with Arcee and Bumblebee for the time being. Personally, Athrun thought it would have better if Kira was with Cagalli at this time, but Kira simply told his friend that it was a bad idea, since Kira felt his being there would only cause Cagalli to not stop thinking about it, and right now they could not afford many distractions. Athrun agreed that the idea made sense, but he could not help but feel that Kira should still stick around if he and Cagalli really were brother and sister, and he could tell by the look in Kira's eyes that the idea was really bugging him just as much.

Despite knowing this, Athrun still had something he needed to talk to Kira about, and he felt that he needed to bring it up as soon as possible. "Kira, do you think it'd be okay if I borrowed the _Archangel_'s shuttle for a moment?"

"Why do you ask Athrun," Kira asked a question that was repeated by the glances that Dearka and Nicol were sending his way as well since they overheard him when he asked.

"I need to make a trip; a little visit to the PLANTs," Athrun explained. "I feel like I have to sit down with my father and have a serious talk."

"But Athrun…," Kira began.

"That's crazy," Dearka interrupted as he floated over to the two. "If you go back there in the _Archangel_'s shuttle, you could be arrested on sight!"

"Dearka's right, and that's only if you're lucky," Nicol added. "I mean there's no telling what will happen to you if your father really has become as bad as Lord Uzumi said he has."

"I know guys," Athrun cut in, forcefully. "But still, he's my father."

Kira stared at his friend for a moment, seeing how serious Athrun was about this, and he could tell that Athrun needed to do this for many different reasons. It was not that Athrun was making sure he was ready to fight against his father if it came down to that, it was more that Athrun wanted to be sure as to whether or not Patrick Zala really had become as horrible as it seemed he had. Kira finally sighed as he answered, "I understand Athrun. I'll talk to Murrue and the others. I'm pretty sure they won't mind."

"Thanks Kira," Athrun thanked his old friend, and with that he moved to do some maintenance work on the Justice until he heard whether or not he had permission. He did not have to wait long though, as Kira had returned just as quickly as he had left saying that it was okay for Athrun to go, but only if he was escorted there by the Freedom and Dreadwing. Athrun knew that Dreadwing had more than likely insisted on going with him since the former Decepticon had seemed to become such a good friend to him, and knew that it was pointless to try and talk either him or Kira out of being his escorts, so he agreed to the terms.

A short while later, Athrun was suited up in his pilot suit and the shuttle was ready for launch. Before he climbed into the craft, Athrun turned to Nicol and stated, "Nicol, if I don't come back I want you to pilot the Justice."

Nicol scowled at this as he replied, "Forget it Athrun. You're the only one who should be piloting the Justice. I know it, and don't bother trying to ask Dearka to do it because he'll say the exact same thing."

Athrun looked at Dearka who simply nodded as a way of saying Nicol was right, and he simply sighed and nodded at what the two were really saying. Before anything else could be said between any of the four boys, a voice called out, "Wait a minute Athrun!"

Everyone looked to see Cagalli rushing towards them, or at least the closest thing to rushing that one could accomplish in a zero gravity environment, until she was right in front of Athrun, practically tackling him away from the shuttle as she demanded, "Why are you doing this? Tell me you're not really going back to the PLANTs!"

"I'm sorry," Athrun stared, but he soon found out that an angry Cagalli was not someone you start saying something with an "I'm sorry" to.

"Sorry doesn't cut it! What's going to happen to you if you return without that," Cagalli asked as she turned to the Justice.

"It's better if the Justice stays here, and if worse comes to worse, I'm sure Kira will take care of it," Athrun reasoned.

"That wasn't what I meant!"

Finally the two collided with the wall that they had been floating towards, which sent them rebounding in the direction that they had come from as Athrun stated, "I know, but I have to go. One way or the other I have to know."

Kira then felt it was time for him to step in before things got out of hand and floated over to the pair, placing a gentle hand on Cagalli's shoulder as soon as he reached them and softly said, "Cagalli…you know he has to."

Cagalli looked between the person that may very well be her brother and the green eyed boy in front of her, and finally relented saying, "Just promise me you'll come back, alright? You promise me damn it."

Athrun smiled as he nodded as he said, "In the words of the Cybertronians, I swear by the spark of Primus."

Cagalli giggled a bit at Athrun saying that, for some reason hearing him say it sounded funny to her, and then moved aside so that he could climb aboard the shuttle. A few minutes later, the shuttle and the Freedom had launched from the _Archangel_ with Dreadwing following the two a few seconds later from the _Omega II_. Dreadwing looked on at the shuttle as he found himself praying to Primus and the AllSpark that his friend would return from his journey back to the PLANTs safely, but it did nothing to alleviate his worry that Athrun's return to the PLANTs would not bring what Athrun was hoping it would bring.

* * *

To say that Patrick Zala felt he had better days would be an understatement at the moment. There was still no word on the whereabouts of Lacus Clyne, and her infuriating broadcasts were still continuing, which just continued the chances of the pink songstress gaining more followers. The one saving grace when it came to the problems with Clyne was that Siegel Clyne had been found and killed, something that was good news for him even if it did sadden him a bit to hear that his former colleague had died.

To make matters worse, there was still no word from Athrun as of yet, and it was clear that recovering the Freedom would be more difficult than expected given the intelligence that Le Creuset had brought back on what had happened in Orb. Plus, add that in with the fact that the Earth Forces had now retaken Victoria and were now gathering all their forces at the moon, obviously in an attempt to launch some sort of end game against the PLANTs.

The fact that Starscream had finally resurfaced after all this time with a group of his own Decepticons that seemed to be allied with the Earth Forces was not much help on this matter either. When Megatron had found out about the actions that Starscream had taken, he reacted in the way that Zala had expected him to, and simply stated that he would ensure that Starscream would soon get exactly what was coming to him.

Thankfully, there was one other saving grace in the face of all this, and that was the fact that Soundwave's special mission while Le Creuset was observing things in the battle for Orb was a success. This fact was proven true by the simple fact that Megatron had shown him an image of proof of this success and stated that it would be extremely beneficial in ensuring that GENESIS was the most powerful weapon to be used against the damned Naturals and any Cybertronian that stood against them.

Patrick Zala was about to look further into this matter personally when he received a page that stated that Athrun had returned in an Earth Forces shuttle, and the Justice being nowhere in sight. Upon hearing this, Patrick was both furious and confused and immediately demanded that his son be brought to him at once. When Athrun finally arrived, he was flanked by two guards and was now facing both his father and Megatron.

"You two leave us alone," Patrick told the guards who had escorted Athrun, and the two immediately left the room as Athrun approached his father's desk, all the while throwing a hidden glare at the Decepticon warlord. "What's going on Athrun? What happened? Where's Justice, and what happened to the Freedom?!"

Athrun just stood his ground with a serious and determined look on his face as he simply told his father, "First things first. I have a question for you. What're your true intentions regarding this war?"

"What did you say," Patrick demanded, outraged at his son's impudence.

"You heard me father, how long are we going to have to keep fighting this war," Athrun demanded.

"What're you blabbering about?! What's important is the mission you were assigned! Now stop wasting time and make your report."

"I came back only because I felt I had to ask that one question in person. That's it father," Athrun calmly told his father.

"I'm warning you Athrun, I won't tolerate this talk especially from a boy who doesn't understand a thing," Patrick roared.

"I think you're the one who doesn't really understand what's going on here," Athrun retaliated heatedly. "Alaska, Panama, Victoria. You attacked because you were attacked first, and then you're attacked again because of that. This war only keeps escalating!"

"Where did you get these crazy ideas," Patrick demanded.

"I think it's actually quite obvious Chairman Zala," Megatron stated, finally speaking up, his voice sending shivers down Athrun's spine that the green eyed boy was surprised he was able to suppress. "Lacus Clyne has gotten to him."

Athrun growled before he turned a glare on his father half shouting, "All you can think about is meeting power with even more power, and that's gotten worse when he showed up here with his Decepticons!" Athrun had thrown an accusing finger at Megatron when he said that last part before he asked, "Tell me father, is that really your true intention? Do you believe that will ever bring an end to this war?"

"Of course it will," the elder Zala shouted. "When the very last Natural is dead the war will end, and just for good measure the same will apply when every last Autobot is dead as well!" Athrun's eyes widened in shock at what his father said, and he could not help but let out another growl at the dark, devious chuckle that Megatron gave in approval of his father's thinking. Patrick then grabbed Athrun by the front of his coat as he demanded, "Now tell me what happened to our machines, the Freedom and the Justice, and answer carefully because I forgive no one!"

"Are you serious," Athrun whispered, feeling himself growing more angry by the minute. "Do you mean what you just said father, about how you want all of the Naturals and Autobots dead?!"

"That's the whole point of both ours and the Decepticons' war! That reason and that reason alone is why we're fighting this war! How could you possibly have forgotten that fact," Patrick shouted, stating it almost as though he thought it was the most obvious thing in existence.

Patrick then threw Athrun onto the ground hard, and in the process Athrun's uniform coat's collar was opened allowing the amulet that Cagalli had given him to be freed from its confines underneath the coat. As Athrun stat up, he heard the sound of a gun loading and looked to see his father had a basic hand gun pointed right at him. In the background, Athrun could hear Megatron comment, "Holding a gun to your own offspring Chairman Zala? I'm impressed. You're even more ruthless than I ever gave you credit for."

Patrick smirked a bit on the inside for Megatron's comment before he returned his attention back to Athrun, still holding him at gun point, as he stated, "What a pathetic sight you are Athrun. Now stop this nonsense and answer, where are the Justice and the Freedom? I won't hesitate to have you arrested as a traitor if you don't answer my question."

Athrun simply sat there, glaring at both Megatron and the man who was supposed to be his father in silence as Chairman Zala walked over and hit a signaling device on his desk that called in several armed guards that quickly rushed in to hold him at gun point. Athrun could no longer deny it, what Lord Uzumi said was true. The man that Athrun had called father was truly gone, replaced by this power hungry warlord that now held him at gun point, and that made Athrun all the more furious. When Patrick Zala called out to him again, Athrun finally snapped and charged towards his father in anger, only to find even further proof that his father was no longer the man he knew when the Chairman shot him. The bullet merely grazed his arm, but it was still just enough to hurt Athrun so seriously that he collapsed to the floor.

"Don't kill this fool," Patrick Zala ordered. "There are still some things he needs to tell me. Take him away, and pry the location of the Justice and the Freedom out of him! Use whatever means of persuasion you find necessary. Lord Megatron, if necessary I would like for your people to interrogate him as well."

"It would be my pleasure Chairman Zala," Megatron stated coolly.

Patrick then directed his next comment towards his so-called son without even looking at him. "I'm very disappointed Athrun."

"I feel the same way," Athrun snarled as he was then led away.

As he watched him go, Megatron simply sighed in disappointment himself as he stated, "A pity really. I had such high hopes for him myself, but then again I suppose that is simply life. Shall we delay in your observation of our efforts involving our prisoner?"

Patrick paused for a moment before replying, "No at least not for too long. I want to see him as soon as possible. If what you say is true then he will be instrumental in ensuring that GENESIS will guarantee Z.A.F.T. and the Decepticons' victory in our respective wars."

* * *

Athrun hung his head as he was escorted out in hand cuffs, both because of how disappointed he was in his father and in himself for ever thinking that his father could have some redeeming quality. At the same time though, he was thinking about what Kira and Dreadwing had told him before the three had to part ways outside of Jachin Due's sensor range, how they had both stated it was not any of their times to die just yet, and he also thought about everyone that was counting on him to make it back, most particularly a certain fiery amber eyed blonde that he had promised he would come back to, and when he thought of her, he instantly began thinking of an escape plan.

Finally he saw his chance when they had paused before the van that would take him to prison. Taking advantage of his opponent's pause, he immediately kicked the one on his right away before slamming the one on the other side away with his shoulder, and then made a break for it. As soon as he had one of the "guards" slammed his rifle into another guard and quickly moved to block Athrun from any enemy fire as he started shooting at them himself all the while shouting, "I didn't expect this!"

He then tossed a few flash grenades at the offending forces as he grabbed Athrun's arm and pulled him into an alleyway where they would be safe for the moment. "Get down and turn your back to me. I'm gonna shoot your handcuffs," Athrun's mysterious savior told him. Athrun was quick to oblige and as soon as he was freed the mystery man handed him an extra gun he was carrying as he told Athrun "You're being way too reckless. Don't you want to live; I mean you even knocked over one of my guys."

"Who are you," Athrun asked as he loaded the gun he was just handed.

The man then lifted his helmet a bit to reveal the face of DaCosta who stated, "I'm with what they're calling 'The Clyne Faction'. You've thrown quite a wrench into our plans."

"I'm sorry. I had no idea," Athrun apologized, instantly recognizing DaCosta from when he and Dreadwing encountered him at the theater they had found Lacus in.

"Naturally. How could you," DaCosta chuckled. When his partner told him to hurry it up, DaCosta nodded and indicated for Athrun to follow them as they both then ducked out of their cover and started shooting at their enemies before making a run for it.

* * *

A few hours later, Athrun had gotten his wound quickly bandaged up and put in a sling, and now he and DaCosta were blasting out of the PLANT in a shuttle at full speed until they finally reached the vast, starry expanse of Space. Almost immediately after they had left the PLANT, they were greeted with the sight of a large, pink colored ship with a long main cannon and what looked like a run way dead in the center, and two large weapons arrays attached to either side of the back most part just before the main thrusters. As soon as the ship's captain had told them to enter in through the rear hatch and they had boarded as told, the pink ship blasted off at incredible speeds that even Le Creuset's ship would not be able to catch up with.

Athrun then made his way to the bridge, and when he arrived there he was greeted by someone he least expected to see. "Athrun, good. Are you alright," the familiar voice of Lacus Clyne called out, as the pink songstress herself turned around in her chair in order to float over to him.

"Lacus," Athrun gasped in shock before he caught her to stop her momentum. He then simply nodded in reply to the girl's question which brought a smile to her face.

"Hey nice to meet you," a male voice called out. Athrun then turned to be greeted by the sight of Aisha, and a man that he had thought was dead. "Welcome to the ship of the songstress, the _Eternal_. I'm Andrew Waltfeld kid, and I'm sure you remember meeting Aisha."

Athrun let out a soft gasp in shock of Waltfeld's appearance. Like Aisha, the man now had some cybernetic implants on his body that were clearly of Cybertronian origin, but his were more centered on his left side and slightly more obvious than his lover's. For starters, Waltfeld's left eye had been replaced with a large, metal eye piece that covered a part of his face and some of his head with a blue lens; his left arm was completely robotic looking right up to the middle of his upper arm, and his left leg was in the same state as his arm, each of them with flashing blue lights running through them almost like veins.

They were brought out of any further musings when one of the bridge officers announced, "Mobile suit force approaching sir! Fifty contacts! No wait, make that fifty three contacts. There's three Decepticons among them as well!"

"The Jachin Forces? Well I can't say I'm that surprised, and it looks like my old friends the Seeker Siblings are with them," Waltfeld murmured as he returned his attention forward while Lacus returned to her seat. "Prepare main cannon! Activate CIWS," Waltfeld then ordered.

"Do you have any mobile suits on board," Athrun then asked.

"Sorry we're fresh out of those," Waltfeld told Athrun.

"This ship was intended for the exclusive use of the Justice and the Freedom," Aisha then explained.

Before Athrun had a chance to say more on the matter, Lacus requested that they open all channels for an outgoing communication, and began trying to _talk_ to the enemy units! "My name is Lacus Clyne. Although I am an enemy of Chairman Zala because we imagine different futures for our people, I have no desire at all to fight against you. Please let out ship go in peace, and I beseech you all once again to think carefully about what we should really be fighting against."

It was a tense moment of silence, but a moment was all they needed to confirm that the enemy was not going to be turning back and letting them go, and that left them with only one option. "Commence interception," Waltfeld then ordered.

The next minute, the sky was lit up with lights from the _Eternal_'s missiles intercepting the enemy attacks. "Please try to avoid hitting the cockpits," Lacus then asked Waltfeld.

"That won't be easy either," Waltfeld half complained until Aisha swatted his right arm.

"Just do what the lady says Andy," Aisha playfully scolded him.

"Fine we'll try, but I was just saying…," Waltfeld mumbled before ordering the main cannon to fire. It was not long after that until the enemy units had surrounded them from all sides and had launched too many missiles for the _Eternal_'s guns to intercept before they were hit. A fact that was made even more so when the Seekers sent out their own barrages of missiles at the _Eternal_. Just when it seemed they would be hit, a number of missiles were hit by a beam blast and another barrage.

"Is that Kira and Dreadwing," Athrun asked, and his answer came in the form of the Freedom and Dreadwing swooping in and blasting the remaining missiles out of the sky until there were none left to threaten the _Eternal_.

Dreadwing then assumed his robot mode and whipped out his cannon as he shouted, "Slipstream!"

"Dreadwing," Slipstream called out in shock as she assumed her robot mode. "You? You're a traitor as well?!"

"It would seem so, but I have a message for _Lord _Megatron," Dreadwing snarled, practically spitting the word lord as though saying it in reference to Megatron was a poison. "Be sure to give Skyquake my regards when you join him in the AllSpark, assuming I don't take you there with myself!" The former follower of Megatron then fired three shots from his cannon that immediately knocked all three Seeker siblings into stasis just as Kira finished off the remaining missiles and eliminated any chances of the Jachin Forces coming after them with a blast from the Freedom's full burst attack.

"Unknown ship, this is Kira Yamato in the Freedom with the former Decepticon warrior, Dreadwing," Kira called out to the _Eternal_.

"Kira, Dreadwing," Lacus exclaimed happily.

"Is that Lacus," Kira and Dreadwing both exclaimed at the same time as the image of their faces appeared on the _Eternal_'s main monitor.

"Yes," Lacus replied. "It's so good to see you both, and thank you for your help."

"Yeah Kira and Dreadwing. Nice timing," Athrun smiled.

"Hey there youngster. You saved our butts," Waltfeld greeted casually.

"Second time he's tried, and first time he has succeeded. Pretty impressive," Aisha added.

"M-Mister Waltfeld and Miss Aisha?! You're both alive," Kira exclaimed.

"Yeah it's a long story, but we'll fill you in when we get out of here maybe over some coffee," Waltfeld remarked.

Kira smiled as he nodded in reply to that and then Dreadwing stated, "We should head for the L4 colonies. That's where the others were going and they may be there by now."

"Well then by all means, lead the way," Waltfeld requested, and in no time at all, Dreadwing had transformed and he and Kira began leading the _Eternal_ to the safety of their temporary base.

* * *

A few hours later, the _Eternal_ was docked inside one of the L4 colonies and everyone was once again meeting aboard the _Omega II_ so that they could all get acquainted or reacquainted with the crew of the pink ship. "Begging your pardon ma'am and sir, but I'm Andrew Waltfeld. It's a pleasure and an honor to finally meet you both."

"I'm Murrue Ramius," Murrue greeted with a smile, happy to have such a formidable warrior with them

"And I am Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots," Optimus finished. "I must admit, even I find this to be quite a surprising development."

"I'd say the feelings mutual, right youngster," Waltfeld commented as he turned to Kira.

"You and Aisha both have a pretty good reason to hate me," Kira commented.

"Maybe, but we can't hold you responsible for something you didn't do, and you and Optimus Prime did try to save my life before the LaGOWE blew so I can't say that either one of us can really hate you at all. Besides that's what happens in a war. Everyone has some kind of reason, yet no one does."

Kira nodded in gratitude for Waltfeld's words and simply left it at that saying, "Thank you."

Waltfeld then turned to Optimus and stated, "I really must thank you especially. If you hadn't intervened when you did in our battle with young Kira here, then there's a chance that neither myself nor Aisha would've survived. I must say, it would seem the things some of your men told me about you are all true Mister Prime, and like I said before, it truly is an honor to finally meet you in person, and especially this time since it's not on the battlefield."

"The honor, and the pleasure is mine Commander Waltfeld, and you are most welcome for that," Optimus replied with a soft smile, showing that he meant every word of what he said. "I think it would be best to discuss everything that we all know at a later time given how much has happened today. I believe that many of our people require rest before we can properly discuss any course of action."

"Agreed," Murrue stated. "We'll all get some rest then reconvene on the _Omega II_ first thing tomorrow morning."

With that everyone went their separate ways until the next day's meeting.

* * *

Before turning in, Cagalli had dragged Athrun to the side so that the two of them could talk for a moment before calling it a night. "You're always getting hurt," Cagalli half scolded as she gazed at Athrun's bandaged arm.

Athrun simply smiled at the blonde before he told her, "It was your amulet that saved me."

Cagalli looked away at that to try and hide the faint blush that had appeared on her face with the faint smile that she now wore. "Did it really? That's good to hear." She then paused for a moment to gaze at the _Eternal_ before she commented, "Just think, she escaped with that huge ship. She's really something."

Athrun threw Cagalli a questioning glance before he saw that her gaze had wandered over to Kira and Lacus who were also talking in another room that they could see into through a window. "Yeah, she really is," Athrun agreed.

"Are you sure you don't mind," Cagalli asked Athrun, facing him with a concerned look. "She is your fiancé after all."

Athrun sighed as he replied, "Weren't you listening before. She's my ex-fiancé, and not just because of my father branding her a traitor. It's also because I was such a fool."

Cagalli then smiled again as she told him, "Well better to realize the truth now than when it's too late, and I think Kira is just as much of a fool. I guess even Coordinators do stupid things, so we might as well just get used to it."

Athrun stared at Cagalli in mild shock at first before he started chuckling and said, "You think so…I guess you're right."

Meanwhile, Kira and Lacus were talking about what had happened after Kira and Jetfire had left the PLANTs, and that eventually led to the topic of the fact that Lacus had found out her father had been killed shortly before she had left the PLANTs herself. At that point, the normally happy, hopeful girl finally could no longer hold back her sadness or her tears and immediately broke down into sobs as she latched onto Kira and cried into his chest. Kira simply held her as he tried to make her feel better while he let her cry. The sight of this made Cagalli and Athrun upset as well as they too had heard about what happened to the songstress's father and neither one of them could help but look down sadly as they wished for a way to help the poor girl any way that they could, but knowing that right now they could not do anything.

* * *

During this time, the Earth Forces Lunar Headquarters was especially active, not only due to all the new arrivals from Victoria, but also because a new ship was running through its first simulation, or rather its most recent in a long line of simulations. The ship itself could only be described as a black _Archangel_, and it would be a very appropriate description as it was now the second ship of the Archangel class, designated as the _Dominion_. The reason for why the ship had been going through several simulations though was because the crew was somewhat unfamiliar with the ship's capabilities, and the only exception to this was the ship's captain who was anything but satisfied with yet another failure.

"What the hell do you guys think you're doing?! You're too slow! At this rate we won't even survive our first battle! Can't you get that through your heads," a very pissed off Natarle Badgiruel demanded. Sometime after she had left Alaska, Natarle had received a promotion to the rank of lieutenant commander and was given command of the _Dominion_ shortly afterwards. While she was happy to be given command of a ship that she knew so well, Natarle would not be lying if she were to say that she wished she had the old _Archangel_ crew manning these stations instead of the idiots that were serving under her command.

"Captain," one of the previously mentioned idiots spoke up. "I have fleet headquarters online."

Natarle just sighed in acknowledgement and waited for whatever it was that fleet headquarters wanted now. It turned out that she was to receive some new pilots and crew mates, one of which held a position in Earth Forces Command, but what really threw her for a loop was the fact that they requested she meet with them in the hangar instead of on the bridge. Natarle simply shrugged the strangeness off and made her way down there, but when she arrived, she was greeted with a sight that she was hoping to never see again.

Standing there in the hangar along with her superior and a blonde man in a blue suit, was none other than the Decepticon traitor Starscream. Natarle was about to go for her gun when her commander stated, "There's no need for alarm Commander. This gentleman is one of us."

Natarle could not believe what she just heard. Starscream, one of the Earth Forces? Something had to be seriously wrong here, but she was not about to question it so Natarle simply stood down and saluted. "Now let me introduce you to Director Murruta Azrael of the National Defense Industry Association, and Commander Starscream, the Earth Forces new ally of Cybertron. I'm sure you've heard of them?"

"Yes of course," Natarle replied. "Commander Starscream actually attacked the ship I previously served on as an enemy."

"Ah yes. I take it you are the one who previously served aboard the _Archangel_," Starscream commented. At Natarle's silence, Starscream simply smirked in knowing that he was correct and stated, "Well my apologies for that unfortunate time, but I assure you I was merely following the orders, however dysfunctional, of my former lord and master, Megatron."

Natarle did not acknowledge this any further which prompted the commander to state, "They will be joining you on your next mission. Director Azrael wants to observe the performance of the three state of the art mobile suits that have been assigned to your ship, and Commander Starscream has insisted that he accompany you along with his own forces as their own ship joins you on the same mission. Please, make them both feel welcome."

Azrael had taken a moment to glance around at his surroundings before finally facing Natarle, seeing she was shocked by what she had just been told, and stated, "Nice to meet you Miss Captain."

"Yes sir," Natarle replied with a salute. "Commander Badgiruel at your service sir."

"Ahem," Starscream coughed.

"Apologies sirs," Natarle forced out, still having a hard time stomaching the idea of working with one of the 'Cons that she had previously considered an enemy. "However…"

"However I never expected the captain of our ship to be quite so young and beautiful," Azrael interrupted, thinking that Natarle was about to question the judgment of allying with Starscream. "Is this an added benefit of some sort?"

"Rest assured sirs she's more than a capable commander. Her family has a long history of military service," the commander assured Starscream and Azrael, piquing both of their interests. "And as Commander Starscream has just stated, before she was given command of this ship she was deputy captain of the _Archangel_."

"Wow, so that means you're as familiar with them and the Autobot vessel as Starscream suggested you would be then," Azrael commented. "That should come in handy then, after all, our mission is to seek and destroy the _Archangel_ and the _Omega II_."

Natarle gasped in shock at this information, partly because up until now she believed that the _Archangel_ and the _Omega II_ had been lost with the destruction of JOSH-A, and also because only seconds after finding out that the two ships and their crews were still alive she was being ordered to pursue them and destroy them. "Sir may I ask why this is," Natarle requested, her voice a little shaky.

"The reason is because the _Archangel_ is a rogue ship full of traitors to the Earth Forces, and the Autobots are a wild card that threatens us as much as Z.A.F.T. and we can't risk having them around," Starscream explained.

"Commander Starscream is correct, plus they are now in possession of two very interesting machines that I wish to capture," Azrael stated. When Natarle threw him a questioning glance at this, Azrael elaborated saying, "The reason is because, I believe that the two machines that I want you to capture may be nuclear powered."

"What," Natarle asked. "But sir that's impossible. Nuclear based weaponry has been completely useless since Z.A.F.T. had launched their N-Jammers."

"That is true but remember it was also Z.A.F.T. who developed the N-Jammers, so it stands to reason that they would also have developed a way to counteract them as well," Azrael explained. "And if they have I want to find out what that is, and the secret lies with those two machines."

Natarle could barely say anything more now, so she simply elected to slowly nod her head in understanding. With that done, Natarle simply offered to show Azrael to the bridge of the ship as her duty said she should, and the whole time she was wondering just what had happened to the _Archangel_ and the _Omega II_ that would cause her superiors to label both as either traitors or a threat to the Earth Forces. Most importantly, she could not help but worry about what she may be forced to do when they did find them.

* * *

Natarle was not the only one having a hard time with her current situation, but if you were to really compare hers to that of Megatron's newest prisoner you would say that the prisoner won hands down on who was having a tougher time. A fact that did not bother Megatron or Patrick Zala when they walked into the room to see the Autobot chained up, the latter still seething a bit over Athrun's escape and the loss of the _Eternal_ because of the Clyne Faction. Megatron strode forward until he was almost right in their prisoner's face as he then said, "I do hope your stay here has been as comfortable as we can possibly make it…Ratchet."

The chief medical officer of the Autobots raised his head with a small groan as the light illuminated his appearance to reveal that his body was covered in severe injuries, whether they were from torture or when he was attacked aboard the _Omega II_ one could only guess. You see during the battle for Orb, Laserbeak had somehow snuck aboard the ship and attacked Ratchet. The medic had tried his best to fight off the infamous spy bird of Soundwave's but it was all for not, and as soon as Ratchet had been subdued, he was hauled off to Soundwave and Le Creuset before they had brought him to his current location.

Ratchet simply glared at Megatron before he snarled, "Don't act like you really care Megatron."

"Now Ratchet is that any way to speak to your gracious hosts," Megatron asked in a casual tone.

"Gracious? Ha. Last I checked chaining someone up in a dungeon was not a way to be a gracious host," Ratchet barely laughed.

"Merely a precaution I assure you," Megatron stated. "Though before we move on to business, I would like you to meet my new ally, Supreme Chairman Patrick Zala."

Zala simply gave a minute nod to Ratchet which Ratchet did not return. Seeing that this was all that greetings would do for them, Megatron began discussing business. "I know that the Autobots would not actually have destroyed the piece of the synthetic energon formula that they found in the caves unless they had some way to have made a copy for themselves, and I also know that you would've been the one they brought it to."

"What's your point," Ratchet demanded, not actually saying anything that would indicate Megatron was in fact correct.

"Simply this, we have the other half of the formula," Megatron stated. As he said this, he activated a small device that showed an image of the other half of the formula that he spoke of, getting Ratchet's eyes to widen in shock. "All we need to complete it is to combine your work with ours and we will have…"

"Unlocked a way to ensure you never tire and simply win our war by outliving the Autobots," Ratchet cut in. "Well I'm afraid I'll have to disappoint you Megatron, because I won't help you."

"You should really let someone finish Ratchet," Megatron barely snarled. "You see, I have been in contact with Shockwave, and he had researched the possibilities of what synthetic energon could be used for. The most promising of which was that, when mixed correctly with something that Chairman Zala's people are working on, it will grant us the power to restore Cybertron."

Ratchet was now shell-shocked by this revelation. Could the ability to restore Cybertron really lie within synthetic energon? It seemed too good to be true to the point that it may as well be impossible. It could not be that simple could it? The fact that Megatron was telling him this was enough to convince Ratchet that Megatron was in fact lying to him so Ratchet just stated, "Even if that were true, you have no way to get this to Cybertron or even disperse this supposed cyber matter, assuming that's what you're suggesting it is, into Cybertron."

"Now that is where you are wrong Autobot," Zala declared. Looking to Megatron and getting a nod of approval, Zala stepped forward and activated a display of his own that showed the specs for GENESIS. "With this we will be able to direct and disperse the cyber matter formula anywhere we wish to."

"Even so, not even Coordinators would be capable of completing such a weapon in such short time," Ratchet pointed out, knowing that was exactly what Zala intended for this to be for and that the man could not care less about what happened to Cybertron.

"You would be correct if it weren't for one fact," Zala stated. Megatron then opened the only window that was in the room to reveal that the _Nemesis_ was actually right next to GENESIS itself, and the large device was already nearly completed.

"I understand your concern about this Ratchet, but rest assured if you do help us, you will be granted your freedom along with that of your fellow Autobots, even humanity if they are smart enough to surrender to our might before it's too late," Megatron then offered, knowing exactly what points to hit in order to convince Ratchet.

Ratchet could only look on at the monstrosity in horror, knowing that it would be completed with or without his help, and if he were to help there was a chance that his friends and humanity would survive. Megatron may not actually keep the promise that he just made, but Ratchet would most certainly make sure that he would be forced to. Finally, Ratchet sighed and stated, "…I will cooperate, but you already knew that didn't you?"

Megatron smirked deviously at this, and immediately released Ratchet from his chains before calling in Knockout to have the doctor of doom escort the Autobot medic to his lab where the synthetic energon and cyber matter formulas were being worked on. Once the two were gone, Zala then turned to Megatron and immediately asked, "Do you truly intend to free him when he is finished? He will know far too much of our plans once he is done here. We can't risk him leaving to tell his allies of our plans or any of our other secrets."

Megatron simply chuckled at Zala's apparent ignorance of his plans. "Rest assured Chairman Zala," Megatron coolly stated with a smirk. "I do not intend to let Ratchet leave when he is finished, but he will be freed. Free to join the AllSpark with the rest of his kind who have perished that is."

Hearing this, Zala's scowl instantly became a triumphant smirk at this revelation as he left, never once knowing that Megatron was planning something else as well, something that he was currently contacting Rau Le Creuset about at this very moment. "Everything is in place. Ratchet has agreed to assist us, and GENESIS will soon be completed. All that's left is your end of the job Commander Le Creuset."

_ "__But of course Lord Megatron,"_ the masked man's voice replied. _"Soon the key to the final door of ending this war will be opened, and mankind's dream will finally be realized, allowing the Decepticons to obtain claim over both Earth and Cybertron."_

Megatron chuckled at this as he stated, "I knew I was right to make you my only true ally among humanity Rau Le Creuset, prophet of humanity's end."

_"__And I am honored that you had done so Lord Megatron,"_ Le Creuset replied before ending the communication, leaving any who may or may not have heard them to wonder just what these two were really up to, the only exception to this more than likely being Soundwave.

* * *

**_Kira: Still think this is funny? [He gestures to the anvil that Cagalli is still pinned under]_**

**_AN: Do you not see the way she's flailing around under there? It's not funny, it's hilarious! [Bursts out laughing and starts taking pictures]_**

**_Arcee: You do know that she's going to kill you for this right?_**

**_AN: No she's not. Not if she doesn't want this story to go unfinished, and the other two stories unwritten._**

**_Jazz: Uh maybe we should move on with this so that we can ensure that she actually is okay._**

**_AN: Ugh fine. Party poopers. Onto the preview!..._**

**_Friends have been turned into enemies, as the _****Dominion ****_faces off against the _****Archangel****_ and the _****Omega II****_ along with the rest of the Four Ships Alliance. Just what will Natarle find when she engages in battle with her newest foe, and how will she be able to stomach working with Starscream? As the battle begins, Murrue cannot help but wish that she and Natarle had not met again like this, but Optimus's declaration of no surrender still resounds in her mind as well as the minds of everyone who had previously fought alongside the now commander. When things really begin to heat up, Le Creuset finally begins to show his hand as Kira and Mu learn of a truth that had long been forgotten or simply had long been hidden. What is it that awaits the new force of peace for Earth and Cybertron, and what effect will it have on the other two forces that both stand as their enemies and as each other's. Next time on Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Prime…_****Chapter 26: Prelude to the Final Battle****_. Blast down the shadow as you uncover the truth Gundam and Autobots!_**

**_Please read and review, and we'll see you all next time!_**


	26. 26: Prelude to the Final Battle

_**AN: CONGRATULATIONS EVERYONE!**_

_**[The sounds of a party ring out around the room]**_

_**Cagalli: Hey what's going on here?**_

_**Kira: Oh hey Cagalli where ya been?**_

_**Miriallia: Yeah we were beginning to wonder if you were ever going to show up for this.**_

_**Cagalli: Uh what are you talking about what is this?!**_

_**Arcee: We're all celebrating how close we are to making this lyokoMARVELanime's first completed fanfiction.**_

_**AN: Oh hey readers are here. That's right everybody, like Arcee said, this story is almost done, because with this chapter there are only three chapters remaining. The next two, and an epilogue to be exact.**_

_**Cagalli: Well why wasn't I invited to this.**_

_**Ironhide: I'm sure it has nothing to do with the fact that every time you're in here you try to kill the author.**_

_**Cagalli: That's not true!**_

_**AN: Oh really? Roll the file footage! [Plays a clip show of all the times Cagalli has tried to kill me]**_

_**Cagalli: Hey you were asking for it!**_

_**AN: Yeah sure. Oh by the way Cagalli, one of my reviewers sent this in to you, said you might want to use it the next time you try to give away a spoiler.**_

_**Cagalli: [reads off of tag] "To Cagalli, from Firem78910"? [opens package] A small umbrella? What's this going to do for me if I try to give away something like how Bumblebee will-**_

_**AN: DAH! SPOILER! [Hits a control that starts a loud rumbling sound]**_

**_Optimus: Run for cover!_**

**_[Cagalli looks to see large boulders falling towards her and futility tries to use the umbrella to save herself]_**

**_AN: Okay so while Cagalli's caught in that rock shower, and while the rest of us are continuing the festivities, let's get you guys on with the story._**

**_Everyone but Cagalli: lyokoMARVELanime does not own anything from either the Gundam or Transformers franchises or any other franchise mentioned in this story._**

* * *

**Chapter 26: Prelude to the Final Battle**

Rau Le Creuset was not going to lie; he was exhausted. The masked soldier had just returned to his quarters from a meeting with Yzak and the rest of the pilots and crew of the _Vesalius_ on the matters involving the escape of Athrun and the Clyne Faction along with the _Eternal_. Needless to say, it came as a shock to a lot of them that Andrew Waltfeld was a member of the Clyne Faction, but it was not all that surprising to consider after one thought about what the famed Desert Tiger's character was like. At any rate, the _Vesalius_ had been ordered to pursue them and do whatever it takes to end this little problem of Chairman Zala's.

"You look exhausted," Flay commented as she floated over to stand next to him. The red haired girl had also been part of the meeting with the others and she herself was constantly wondering why these people of the Clyne Faction would do something like what they had done. After spending time among Z.A.F.T. Flay found that she was questioning her beliefs about these people, but it was not by all that much.

Rau turned to Flay as he replied, "Even I am only human my dear. I've lived a life from battlefield to battlefield, and I can't really disagree if you say it's my fault for being a soldier and choosing this life, but nobody is ever born into this world as a soldier."

Flay only hummed in understanding at that as she thought back to how her life was before she was dragged into the war herself, silently wishing that she good go back to those times now. "I'd like nothing more than to put an end to that forever," Rau continued on. "You agree with me don't you?"

Flay's look of hope and wonder was all that Le Creuset needed to confirm that she did agree, and the masked man then pulled out a small computer disc from his drawer that he held up before him. "I have the final key in my hands, but if the key stays here then that final door will never open. I wish I could open that door as soon as possible," Rau then told Flay, and that statement was all the prompting Flay needed to gaze in awe at the small disc that the man held in his hands.

"Where…where does this key need to go in order to work," Flay stuttered.

Le Creuset mentally smirked seeing that the girl had bought what he was telling her completely. "If the key is to truly work then it must reach the Earth Forces because it may very well end this war," Rau replied. "Why do you ask?"

Flay then knew what she wanted to say and do then. "Let me take it to them. I…I want to end this war as quickly as possible. If this can do that then there's no reason why I shouldn't try and get it there," Flay begged.

Le Creuset visibly smirked this time as he stood up and patted the girl's shoulder as he said, "Thank you my dear, and I will be sure to take you up on that offer, but not because you asked for this. It's because you are the only one who can get this key to that final door, but don't think that you can take it there just yet. There are some things that must happen first before then, so are you willing to wait until that time?"

Flay hesitated only for a minute before she nodded with a half scared, half determined look on her face and Le Creuset then dismissed her from the room saying he needed a moment to himself. Once Flay had gone, Le Creuset pulled out a device from his desk and activated it. A moment later, a secret communication line was opened to Megatron. "Everything is ready. The one who will take the final key to its door has agreed to help us get it there Lord Megatron," the masked man reported.

_"__Excellent Le Creuset,"_ Megatron's voice replied. _"Now we need only wait for the correct time to send her on her way. I trust you are about to head for the Mendel Colony now?"_

"Indeed we are," Le Creuset replied. "And soon enough these wars shall be on the threshold of their ends."

The two then began to cackle like maniacs at this thought and any who heard them would think that it could only mean that something terrible was about to happen which would affect the entire universe.

* * *

At the Mendel Colony itself, the members of the Four Ships Alliance were meeting aboard the _Omega II_ to discuss the recent developments and intel that Lacus and the rest of the crewmembers of the _Eternal_ had discovered before they had left Z.A.F.T. Everyone who was a major part of the group was present save for Athrun who was still reeling from what had happened during his encounter with his father and Megatron.

"Our immediate concern is most likely the moon," Lacus revealed, taking the lead on the meeting. "I hear that now that they've recaptured Victoria the Earth Forces have been continuously sending up troops."

"Do you think they're planning to launch an all-out attack on the PLANTs," Murrue then asked.

"Their military is full of people who've always wanted to pull off that kind of stunt 'for the preservation of our blue and pure world'," Waltfeld reminded them all, saying that last quote in a mocking tone.

"What's the human expression I'm thinking of again? Barf me," Wheeljack asked.

"Nah Jackie, it's gag me," Jazz corrected.

"Oh yeah that's the one. Seriously though, that is a major load of scrap," the sword wielding wrecker scowled.

"Hey they're the ones saying it not me," Waltfeld shrugged. "I can't see how getting rid of all the Coordinators would lead to a pure world though. I don't even know what a pure world is. Hey Mister Prime, any of that wisdom of your predecessors give you some kind of clue on that?"

"Sadly I cannot say that it truly does, for we Autobots do not know what a pure world truly is since all many of today's Cybertronians only know of our home world," Optimus answered. "Though I suppose that the golden age of Cybertron from many eons ago would be close to such a thing, I doubt that would be true, for our world had never felt the wrath of war, nor had it ever faced extermination until now. In my opinion, the greatest of hardships is what brings about a true peaceful, pure world and without those hardships, we would only live in a false dream."

"Wise words indeed Optimus Prime," Lacus complimented. She then nodded for Waltfeld to continue what he was saying before, seeing that he had something else to say on the matter.

"Well even if we don't know the true answer to what a pure world is, I can understand how the people on the PLANTs must feel about being attacked for such an incomprehensible reason," Waltfeld continued from where he left off. "On the other hand, the guys who are running the PLANTs look at Naturals as nothing more than vermin. Of course they have every right to fight back and defend themselves, if only to ensure that history never repeats, but the question is how long will the cycle continue?"

Murrue looked down as she stated a fact that everyone had to agree with. "We live in such a cruel era."

"Whatever human beings have begun other human beings can then put a stop to, and I'm sure that the same can be said for the people of Cybertron," Lacus then stated. "In any era of history, of any world, there were always many people who felt as we are feeling now." Lacus then turned to smile at Kira as she finished. "Don't you want to try and bring about an era where that isn't necessary?"

Kira returned Lacus's smile as he replied, "You bet."

Bumblebee then beeped and whirred something that seemed to get all the Autobots to chuckle a bit, even Optimus surprisingly. "What's so funny? What'd he say," Miriallia asked.

Kira smirked a bit as he translated, "And I thought Optimus gave really moving, inspirational speeches. Bee's words, not mine."

At that everyone else began to let out a light chuckle as the meeting came to a close, with the only other thing to be mentioned would be the transfer of the Freedom and the Justice to the _Eternal_, since the former Z.A.F.T. ship was designed for the exclusive use of those two mobile suits. None of them ever noticing that Cagalli had left. Well none of them other than Arcee, who smirked knowing where the blonde girl had gone to, or rather who the girl had gone to find.

* * *

Athrun had come to the _Omega II_ with everyone else, but as soon as he got the chance, he had slipped away to another part of the ship to gaze off into space. Ever since his return from the PLANTs and his talk with his father, Athrun could barely get a moments rest as the memory kept coming back to him. He was even having nightmares where his father had gone so horrible that he literally turned into another version of Megatron, except with armor that was the same color as his Z.A.F.T. uniform. Dreadwing had tried to do what he could for the poor boy, but sadly there was only so much that he could do, and the former Decepticon was now just hoping that someone could help Athrun.

Thankfully for Dreadwing, his prayers were about to be answered as Cagalli came around the corner calling out, "So here's where you've been hiding."

Athrun then turned to see Cagalli coming over to him, barely noticing anything else at the moment as the blonde said, "I bet your head's like a hamster running in its wheel right now. Your mind's getting nowhere just going around and around in circles. That's why you need to talk to everyone, so when we have a meeting you should be there too."

Athrun found that Cagalli was right in what she was saying, and simply replied saying, "Thanks Cagalli."

Cagalli then glance at Athrun's arm that was still bandaged up in a sling before asking, "Does it hurt?"

Athrun gave her a small smile, trying to hide the true answer to her question, as he replied, "No."

"Of course it does," Cagalli argued. "You were shot by your own father."

Athrun looked away sadly, seeing that Cagalli had hit the nail right on the head without even trying. "I tried, but I just couldn't stop my father," Athrun told the blonde. "That was when I finally knew that there was nothing I could do, and that I didn't understand a thing."

Cagalli sympathized with Athrun for a minute, knowing that his statement applied to a lot more than just his father before she went on to say, "We're all like that. Nobody understands, and the people who think they do are only kidding themselves. Besides, it's still too soon to give up on your father. I know that it seems like he has fallen to Megatron's level but I'm sure that there's still a chance for you to get through to him, and you've got lots of time to have a real talk with him. So stop standing around and looking so down in the mouth and…"

Cagalli found that she could not finish what she was saying, as she was suddenly caught off guard by Athrun wrapping her in a warm, thankful hug which made her face start to heat up instantly. "I'm sorry," Athrun whispered to her.

"What are you," Cagalli tired to ask.

"Well just that. I'm sorry," Athrun replied. At that point, Cagalli just melted and returned Athrun's hug, both feeling that they needed this right now.

* * *

A few hours later, the Four Ships Alliance members were hard at work preparing the ships and themselves for action. Mu and three of Cagalli's mobile suit pilot friends were hard at work loading supplies onto the ships, with Mu stating that he thought of this as part of his mobile suit pilot training, the Autobots were checking over their weapons and supplies along with making sure that the _Omega II_ was ready for action, and Kira and Athrun were preparing to transfer their mobile suits over to the _Eternal_ while the _Archangel_ decided to keep the Perfect Strike, the Buster, and the Blitz. Everything seemed to be going rather smoothly for them, but that could only mean that something was about to happen that would get everyone on edge.

That something happened much sooner than most of them would have liked. Just when Kira and Athrun had climbed into the cockpits of their machines, the _Archangel_'s sensors went off. "Large heat sources approaching ma'am," Sai reported to Murrue, the shock evident in his voice. "Looks like a warship class and a Decepticon ship. Distance seven hundred, orange eleven, mark eighteen alpha. Checking library…not listed."

"_Archangel_ to _Omega II_," Murrue called out. "We've just detected a pair of possible enemy ships. Can you confirm?"

"Done and done," Hound reported. "One of them is of the same class as the _Havoc_, the ship that had pursued us on Earth, but the markings aren't the same as one of Megatron's usual ships. It might be Starscream."

"Roger that," Murrue replied as she then switched over to the general call. "All hands to level one battle stations!"

"Autobots, prepare to roll out," Optimus ordered. "Wreckers, ready weapons and prepare for combat on the upper deck. Dreadwing, Aerialbots, prepare to launch from all launch tubes. All other hands are to report to either weapons stations or the bridge."

Just as everyone was at their stations, an explosion shook the colony. "Prime, that blast had an energy signature that matched that of the _Archangel_'s positron cannon," Ironhide reported.

"_Archangel_, taking off! We've gotta get outside," Murrue then announced. "What's the _Kusanagi_'s status?"

"We're ready to launch," Kisaka reported.

"We're still making a few final adjustments to the _Eternal_," Waltfeld then reported.

"And the _Omega II_," Murrue then asked.

"We are ready to roll," Jazz replied.

"Very well," Murrue answered. "The _Eternal_ will be better off inside the harbor for now. We'll know what they're after once we find out if they're Z.A.F.T. and Megatron or Earth Forces and Starscream."

"Understood," the other three ship commanders replied.

"_Omega II_, roll out," Optimus then ordered. "We'll cover the _Archangel_ until the _Kusanagi_ has launched."

With that said, the two ships launched out of the harbor of the Mendel Colony and off into battle once more. Once they were outside, they were certain that they were within the enemy's communications and sensor range, and the two ships had all their weapons primed. Kira, Athrun, Mu, Dearka, and Nicol were all waiting to launch from the _Archangel_, while the Aerialbots and Dreadwing were waiting to do the same from the _Omega II_ just as Hound, Bulkhead, and Wheeljack arrived on the upper deck of the ship. Jazz and Bumblebee had taken up positions at the _Omega II_'s helm, with Ironhide and Arcee manning the main weapons controls, and Optimus and Elita taking the captain's and first officer's positions on the bridge. Before any of them could make another move, one of the enemy ships opened a communication line to them, and they all heard an all-too familiar voice calling out.

_"__This is the Earth Alliance Forces mobile assault ship, _Dominion_. _Archangel_, _Omega II_, do you read me,"_ Natarle Badgiruel's voice called out to them, shocking everyone who recognized her voice. _"The military has classified you as renegade ships. We therefore demand your immediate surrender. Your ships will be destroyed if you fail to comply."_

Everyone could only sit there in shock at the realization that the Earth Forces had sunk so low that they were sending out their former crewmate and friend after them like this, but they were in for another shock given what Miriallia was about to report. "Captain, we have a visual image of the enemy ship."

"Same here," Ironhide reported to Optimus. A moment later, both ships had brought up an image of the _Dominion_ on both of their monitors.

"By the AllSpark," Optimus gasped.

**_"_****_It's…a black _****Archangel****_," _**Bumblebee buzzed.

"The same class as ours," Sai exclaimed.

A moment afterwards, the familiar face of Natarle herself appeared on the main monitors of the _Archangel_ and the _Omega II_. _"Captain Ramius, Optimus Prime. It's been sometime,"_ Natarle commented, hoping to keep things as friendly as possible.

"Yes it has," Murrue replied, while Optimus kept silent, letting the situation between the two women play out first before he said anything.

_"__I regret having to meet you two again under these circumstances."_

"So do I," Murrue told her former second in command sadly.

_"__I heard about what happened at Alaska. Nevertheless I strongly urge you both to surrender so you can discuss the matter with the authorities. I don't have much influence, but I'll do everything I can to help you, and you're well aware of this ship's capabilities."_

"Natarle, thanks for your concern," Murrue began. "But we cannot do as you ask. This isn't only about what happened at Alaska. We have serious doubts about the Earth Forces in their entirety. No surrender, no return to the military!"

_"__But Captain Ramius,"_ Natarle began, but she was then interrupted by a smug voice from off-screen.

_"__That exchange was fascinating. Oh captain, you should be embarrassed. There would be no conflict in this world if everything could be solved through discussion. Misunderstandings create enemies, and when you have enemies you shoot them."_

_"__Director Azrael,"_ Natarle tried to protest, but she did not get any farther than that on either end of the communication line.

"Natarle Badgiruel," Optimus then called out, speaking for the first time in this communication. "Though we were once allies, if you side with a force that allies with the Decepticons, whether they be Starscream's or Megatron's, then you will have made yourself just as much our enemy as they are. I honestly do not wish to fight against another friend Natarle, but circumstances have forced my kind to fight against friends and even brothers far too often in our own war. I know not how Starscream had secured an alliance with the Earth Forces nor how they are truly connected to Blue Cosmos beyond Azrael, but I do know this, so long as one sides with any Decepticon force such as Starscream's or Megatron's, they will always risk facing their own destruction. I doubt I really need to remind you of this, but I will say this once again. The Autobots and their allies will never surrender!"

_"__Now, now Prime,"_ Starscream's voice now sounded. _"Just because she's playing for a winning team now doesn't mean you can just write her off so easily or accuse her superiors of having any part of some terrorist group."_

_"__I must agree," _Azrael then commented, but before either of them could say anymore, Optimus interrupted them both. Not even the last Prime wants to hear a pair of egomaniacs rant on all day like their plan was to talk people to death.

"And as for the two of you," Optimus warned, his tone reaching dangerous levels that sent shivers down both Azrael's and Starscream's spines. "Starscream and Azrael, be gone!"

Whether it was out of fear or anger, one could only guess when Azrael gave his next order, _"Calamity, Forbidden, and Raider, launch! Today we destroy the indestructible _Archangel_!"_

Starscream's tone was much more clearly anger. _"Combaticons and Insecticon swarms, attack! Today we of the _Armageddon_ will destroy the mighty _Omega II_ and accomplish the one thing that Megatron never could. The destruction of the invincible Optimus Prime!"_

"Captain, mobile suits are launching from the _Dominion_," Miriallia then reported.

"Prime, I've got id matches on the boogies launching from Starscream's vessel," Ironhide reported.

"All mobile suits launch," Murrue ordered.

"Roger," Kira replied. "Kira Yamato, Freedom, let's do it!"

"Mu La Flaga, Perfect Strike, here I go!"

"Athrun Zala, launching Justice!"

"Dearka Elsman, Buster. I'm ready!"

"Nicol Amalfi, Blitz. Heading out!"

Shortly following each of these declarations, the pilots had blasted out of the _Archangel_ and into action in their mobile suits. Not a moment later, Optimus then ordered, "Dreadwing, Aerialbots, launch now!"

"Roger that," Silverbolt replied. "Aerialbots taking off!" And just as the silver, space shuttle Autobot flyer had declared, the five Aerialbots had taken off and flown into action once more.

"This is Dreadwing, I'm moving to engage the enemy," Dreadwing then shouted as he too blasted off after the Aerialbots, and thus the unsung signal for the battle to begin was sent.

The effect was almost instantaneous, as the two ships and their forces had soon engaged in battle. While the Insecticons tired to make a run for the _Omega II_, the Combaticons occupied the Aerialbots, but these efforts were all for not, as the Wreckers were quick to blow the bugs into space dust before most of them could land on the ship and the ones who did had the pleasure of meeting the business end of Wheeljack's swords or one of Bulkhead's wrecking balls. Meanwhile, the Buster, the Blitz, and the Perfect Strike were quick to get to work covering the _Archangel_ while Kira and Athrun engaged the three machines from the Earth Forces once more.

"They want these guys intact," the Raider's pilot, Clotho, stated.

"How about just one of them," the Forbidden's pilot, Shani, asked.

"I don't think they'll mind that much so long if they get just one," the Calamity's pilot, Orga, replied as he let loose a volley from his machine's cannons.

It was not long into the fighting that the _Kusanagi_ had finally joined the battle, and from where she was on the bridge, Cagalli could see Silverbolt engaging Onslaught in hand to hand combat, which showed just how much a zero gravity environment could even the playing field for Cybertronians whether they were ground or air based. The _Kusanagi_ then maneuvered to try and cover the _Archangel_'s port side, seeing that the _Omega II_ was covering their starboard side, when suddenly the ship lurched to a stop.

"What happened," Kisaka demanded.

"The ship's caught in some kind of cable," the _Kusanagi_'s helmsman reported. "We can't move!"

"Asagi, whatever that is I want you to cut if off this ship now," Kisaka ordered.

"Roger," the Astray pilot replied as she headed out to do just as she was asked, but she was not going to be doing so alone or without cover, as Optimus had noticed the Orb ship's problem as well.

"Wing Saber, Wheeljack," Optimus began.

"Way ahead of ya Optimus," Wheeljack replied as he ran to jump off the _Omega II_. "Hey Saber, I could use a lift to get me there faster."

"Let me know when you're ready," Wing Saber replied as he flew over.

"I just did!" A moment after he had said that, Wheeljack jumped off of the ship, landing on Wing Saber minutes afterwards, and the two flew over to the _Kusanagi_ at the Aerialbot's top speed. Just before they could reach the Astray cutting the _Kusanagi_ free though, the Forbidden had flown up to try and tear the poor girl apart. Thankfully that was avoided thanks to a last minute save by the Justice.

"What are you guys doing? Hurry," Athrun urged them.

"Not to worry Athrun, after all I'm the best Wrecker there is at what I do, and what I do isn't pretty," Wheeljack stated.

"Hey Jackie, I think you've been watching one too many of a particular brand of Earth movies," Bulkhead commented when he heard that over his comm.

"Well can you blame me? Those movies are good, for the most part. Besides doesn't make it any less true," Wheeljack called out as he leaped from Wing Saber's back and whipped out his swords, telling Asagi to stand clear as he did. The Astray pilot had moved away just before the Wrecker let loose a double slash on the cable holding the _Kusanagi_ where it was before he leaped aside to let Wing Saber finish the job.

It was a job that Wing Saber was quick to finish as he transformed to his robot mode, and flicked his right arm outward, extending one of his wrist blades as he charged in. Once he was close enough, Wing Saber let loose a mighty diagonal slash on the cable, severing it cleanly in two and freeing the _Kusanagi_ up to continue in the battle.

Things seemed to look up for the three ships for a moment, until the _Archangel_ found herself under fire from the _Dominion_ after the black ship had maneuvered around to try and blindside them without anyone noticing. Though the _Archangel_ was quick to avoid the initial attack, they were then instantly assaulted by a missile bombardment that Natarle had sent out in advance. The _Omega II_ and the Freedom tried to intercept the missiles but they were not fast enough and the white ship was hit, a fact that was made no easier by the fact that the _Armageddon_ had pulled a similar trick on the _Omega II_ that the _Dominion_ had on the _Archangel_.

Before anyone could react any further, both the _Dominion_ and the Raider and Calamity had opened fire on the Freedom, and the Autobots were kept pinned down to prevent them from helping Kira. That was not going to stop the young Coordinator though. Thinking quickly, Kira entered SEED Burst mode and blasted apart all the missiles with the Freedom's guns before they could hit. He then noticed the Raider launching its mace at him, but he was not quick enough to dodge it in time. Kira then found himself having to do everything he could just stay ahead of the Calamity's guns, but at the same time he was still taking hits from the Raider whenever it came around to attack him.

Seeing his friend in trouble, Athrun quickly dealt with the Forbidden by damaging its shields with one of the Justice's beam boomerangs and then slicing apart the Forbidden's scythe with his duel beam saber. Athrun then gunned the Justice over at top speed as he too entered SEED Burst mode and blocked what would have been a devastating blast on the Freedom from the Calamity with the Justice's shield, which he then pushed back until the beam ended up damaging the Calamity more than it did anything else. Though the Justice's shield did take some damage from doing this, it was well worth the effort to have disabled one of the Calamity's cannons. Suddenly, both Athrun and Kira were being fired upon from three direction. At one side was the Raider, at the other was the Combaticon known as Brawl, and from the final direction was Hardshell.

"Tear ugly mobile zuitzzz apart," Hardshell buzzed.

"Normally I'd be a bit sad about blasting apart something with such fire power, but I'll make an exception in this case," Brawl stated as he fired his cannons at the two mobile suits.

"Just get them," Clotho hollered as he charged in.

Kira and Athrun quickly took evasive action as they did their best to avoid the multi-sided assault until Brawl was suddenly hit by a missile barrage courtesy of Air Raid and Hardshell was knocked back by Wing Saber's wrist blade, forcing the Insecticon to engage him in close combat. With the two Decepticons now occupied, Kira and Athrun now found themselves freed up to deal with the Raider and the other two enemy mobile suits should they attempt to rejoin the fight.

Amidst all this action and chaos though, Wheeljack was the first to notice something was off about their side of the fight. "Hey did you guys see what happened to the Perfect Strike and the Buster," the sword wielding Wrecker asked as he blasted apart an Insecticon drone with his Path Blaster.

The question was a well deserved one, because the two mentioned suits had seemed to have vanished from the battlefield. "I think that Mister Mu said something about Z.A.F.T. being nearby and headed back towards the colony. Dearka went to go give him some backup because he was concerned about it," Nicol replied.

"How the Pits does Mu know that Z.A.F.T. is even near here," Wheeljack asked.

"I'm not sure, but he said something like 'It's that guy'," Nicol replied. At this response, Wheeljack's optics narrowed as he suddenly remembered something Mu had once told him back during the mission in which he and the others had first encountered the Decimators on Earth. Namely how Mu had told him about an archenemy he had.

"I'm going to go after them," Wheeljack stated. "They might need the help."

"Whoa Jackie you can't go alone, at least take some backup," Bulkhead stated.

"Have you forgotten Bulk? Wreckers don't call for backup," Wheeljack began with a smirk.

"THEY CALL FOR CLEAN UP," the three Wreckers all shouted together as Bulkhead and Hound blasted apart enough Insecticons to clear a path for Wheeljack back to the colony. A path that Dreadwing had quickly flown through as well.

"Hey weren't you listening to what we were just saying," Wheeljack asked the former follower of Megatron.

"I was and I'm not coming as backup. I'm coming as support, that is unless the Wreckers suddenly don't call for that either," Dreadwing remarked.

Wheeljack just smirked as he told Dreadwing, "Heh, I think we're going to get along better and better everyday Dread." With that said, Dreadwing allowed Wheeljack to hitch a ride as the two raced to catch up with Mu and Dearka.

* * *

Dreadwing and Wheeljack caught up with Mu and Dearka in no time at all, and the four then raced into the colony, passing the _Eternal_ as they did. "Hey what is it," Waltfeld called out over the pink ship's communicator.

"He says Z.A.F.T. is here," Dearka answered.

"Yeah, it's that guy," Mu finished, the hostility in his voice not going unnoticed by Wheeljack, which confirmed his suspicions on who it was that Mu was talking about.

"In any case, we're gonna go over to check. This might be trouble if he's right, and I doubt my usual signature would be all that good to use inside of this place," Wheeljack told them.

"We'll make do either way," Dreadwing stated as he increased his thruster velocity. "We can only hope that it is only Z.A.F.T. and not Megatron's forces, but I highly doubt that is the case."

With that said, the communication line went dead and Waltfeld set down the phone like device that he was using to call the team that was going in that direction. "Aisha," Waltfeld asked.

"There is a harbor on the other side, so it only makes sense that Z.A.F.T. might try to get in through there in order to try and attack us, or at least send out a scouting team," Aisha replied.

"While they're doing that then, please hurry with the launch of the _Eternal_," Lacus requested. "As long as we're stuck in here, we have no choice but to leave everything in the hands of others."

"You're right," Waltfeld agreed. "DaCosta! Hurry it up."

With that said, everyone began to redouble their efforts to complete the final adjustments on the _Eternal_.

* * *

Back outside with the main battle, the Freedom and the Justice were giving their three opponents a real run for their money now, but the Forbidden had become especially fixated on the Justice after what Athrun's attack had done to him. As they fought against them, Kira and Athrun noticed that the Aerialbots had now gone into a full on brawl with the Combaticon while Bulkhead and Hound were engaged in battle against the three Insecticon leaders, not that the two were having problems with the three against two odds, if anything Bulkhead thought that if the Insecticon leaders got about six or nine more guys then it would be close to an even fight.

As for the four battling ships, the _Archangel_ and the _Omega II_ were quickly beginning to outmaneuver and push back the _Dominion_ and the _Armageddon_ respectively, and with the _Kusanagi_ closing in to turn the odds in their favor, it seemed that the two ships of the Four Ships Alliance were about to become victorious in this battle. This fact was proven to be true even more so when the _Dominion_ was forced to evade a blast from the _Kusanagi_'s two Gottfried cannons. At the rate things were going, it was only a matter of time before one of the two sides' ships were sunk, but that was a chance that some were not willing to take.

Just as the battle was nearing the moment of heating up to the point of one side being completely devastated, a flash of three signal flares lit up the skies from the direction of the _Dominion_, showing that the dark ship was preparing to make a temporary withdrawal. This action was then mirrored by an order from the _Armageddon_ to retreat as well. Though not everyone was going to listen to this order.

Shani was still raving in anger as he tried to take down the Justice, so it seemed that he would not be listening to his orders to withdraw. It was not until Clotho and Orga snapped enough sense into him to get him to see reason, and the three immediately retreated back to the _Dominion_ as fast as they could.

As the victors of this battle watched their foes retreat, Murrue could not help but sadly comment, "Even her retreats are well executed."

Everyone stared after their enemies for another moment before Bulkhead shook himself out of it enough to contact Kira and Athrun asking, "Hey Kira, Athrun, you guys doing okay?"

"As much as I can be expected to be," Kira stated somewhat sadly, still thinking about how he just had to fight Natarle.

"Yeah I'm okay too," Athrun replied. "But those three pilots are really…"

"Yeah we know Athrun," Jazz stated from the bridge. "They're something else if they could keep up with you guys as well as they could. Almost hard to believe that they're regular military for the Earth Forces."

"Yeah but there's something else," Kira implied, getting everyone's attention. "I don't think those three are Naturals."

"Are you saying that they're Coordinators," Arcee asked.

"No not exactly. They're definitely not Coordinators either," Kira replied. "I don't know what they are, but they're definitely not normal."

Everyone let that hang for a minute as their own forces began to return to their respective ships in silence and exhaustion until Waltfeld spoke up over everyone's comms. _"Hey anyone heard from La Flaga, Elsman, Wheeljack, or Dreadwing?"_

That got everyone worried instantly, some people more so than others. "We haven't heard anything since they went into the colony to investigate La Flaga's hunch," Ironhide replied from his station on the _Omega II_.

"Wheeljack, this is Elita on the _Omega II_, do you read," Elita asked. When she received no response she tried again this time calling out, "_Omega II_ to Dreadwing, please respond."

"We're not getting through to the colony interior," Jazz stated as he ran scans to see what was wrong. "This can't be right…according to our scans there's some kind of energy signal blocking our transmissions, but that shouldn't be possible unless there was some kind of energon supply springing up inside the colony."

"Didn't Dreadwing mention that the 'Cons thought it was possible for these colonies to start artificially creating energon on their own given time," Arcee asked.

"If that is the case, then it seems we are seeing the results and confirmations of those theories now," Optimus stated.

"Dearka? Dearka," they all then heard Miriallia call out, hoping to get better results. "Commander…It's no use. Our signals just aren't reaching the colonies interior any better than the _Omega II_'s."

"I'll go find them," Kira then volunteered. "Meanwhile you can resupply and make repairs."

"Nothing's wrong with the Justice, so I'll go as well," Athrun then offered.

"No," Kira declined. "I think the _Dominion_ and the _Armageddon_ may not have made complete withdrawal just yet. You'd better stay here for now Athrun."

"You sure?"

"I'll be fine. I'll stay out of trouble," Kira answered in a reassuring tone.

"All the same Kira Yamato, it would still be unwise for you to go alone. For that reason, I shall accompany you as well," Optimus then told the young man, his own tone saying that there was no room for arguments.

"Thanks Optimus," Kira told his the Autobot leader, and in no time at all, the two were blasting off into the colony to see what was keeping Mu, Dearka, Wheeljack, and Dreadwing. What they would find though would not be a welcoming sight for any of them.

* * *

Sometime before Natarle and the rest of her forces had withdrawn from the battle outside, Mu and the three had entered the colony's interior at long last to discover whether or not Z.A.F.T. really was coming at them from behind. As soon as they were inside, Mu did not need to see the enemy units to know that Rau Le Creuset was here, the visual confirmation only served two purposes. One purpose was to see that Le Creuset was in a new model mobile suit and the other was that he was not alone, because the Duel and a team of five Decepticons were with him as well, but there was also one other Decepticon there as well, and this one had a vehicle form of a silver Cybertronian fighter jet with a large cannon on top.

At the sight of the jet, Dreadwing snarled in recognition as he prepared to blast forward with an angered shout of, "MEGATRON!"

"Dreadwing wait," Wheeljack shouted, but it was too late as they were already caught up in a fire fight against the six Decepticons while Dearka and Mu had quickly engaged the enemy mobile suits.

Dreadwing was immediately caught up in a dog fight against his former master, as Megatron half cackled, half snarled, "I did not originally believe Slipstream's report of your treachery Dreadwing, but now I see that it is true. Whatever would Skyquake say to this?"

"Don't you dare talk about Skyquake, especially after what you had done to him," Dreadwing shouted as he let loose a volley. Megatron expertly dodged all of Dreadwing's shots easily as he continued to cackle in realization.

"So that's it," Megatron shouted. "You discovered of what happened to Skyquake. You should feel honored that your brother played such a pivotal role in furthering the Decepticons' efforts for victory."

"Don't talk like you know anything about honor!"

Megatron was quick to swerve aside from the volley of missiles that Dreadwing shot before he proclaimed, "While I would love to continue to debate this matter Dreadwing, I'm afraid I have other things to attend to, but do not worry I won't let you become bored. Scrapper, you and the Constructicons deal with the traitor and his little friends."

"Yes sir Lord Megatron," the Constructicon leader replied. "Constructicons, combine into Devastator!"

A moment later, the five green colored Decepticons had all merged together to form a large powerful warrior of their own, much in a way similar to how the Aerialbots and the Combaticons combined to form Superion and Bruticus respectively. Seeing this, Dearka took a moment to blast Yzak enough to get some information on this new foe. "Hey one of you guys mind filling me in on who these guys are," the blonde asked Dreadwing and Wheeljack.

"They're called the Constructicons, the first team of Decepticon combiners," Wheeljack explained as he began firing shots at Devastator from his blaster. "Separately, they're known as Scavenger, Mixmaster, Long Haul, Hook, and their leader Scrapper. Normally they handle most of the Decepticons' major construction, repair, or demolition projects, but when they do go into battle they fight with the same kind of ferocity that they have when they're on a demolition project."

"Can we take 'em," Dearka then asked as he kept firing the Buster's rifles in an attempt to just keep the Duel away for a moment while they finished the conversation.

"You probably can't, but we can, so please leave them to Wheeljack and myself Dearka Elsman," Dreadwing requested. As soon as Dearka replied to say he understood, the three split off to face their separate opponents, with Wheeljack making a strong leap for Devastator with his swords drawn and ready for battle. This was an action that Dreadwing was quick to follow with his own swords.

While the two swordsmen were engaged with Devastator, Yzak had rushed the Buster crying out, "Bastard! How dare you use Dearka's machine!"

Said blonde could only growl at his friend's stubbornness and apparent idiocy, but at the same time he felt sorry for Yzak and himself, because it was obvious that they were now facing the same situation that Kira and Athrun had to face ever since Heliopolis. Finally, Dearka felt he had enough and opened a channel to the Duel calling out, "Yzak!"

That brought the silver haired man to a hard halt as soon as he recognized his friend's voice. "D-Dearka? Is it really you in there?"

"Yeah it's me," Dearka calmly replied to his friend as his face appeared on Yzak's monitor.

Yzak could not believe what he was hearing or seeing, and then his shock became anger as he demanded, "Why the hell are you fighting alongside the Strike? What happened to Nicol? What the hell is going on here?! I mean I'm really glad that you're alive, but man, I can't forgive you if this is what it looks like!"

Before either of them could say anymore, their attention was drawn by Devastator slamming Wheeljack into the ground. Dearka panicked for a moment, until a blast suddenly hit Devastator in the side of his head as a voice called out to the blonde and his friends. "Dearka, Wheeljack, Dreadwing!"

"Kira," Dearka exclaimed when he saw the blue winged mobile suit flying in with Optimus not far behind him.

"Optimus you're a sight for sore optics," Wheeljack commented as he got to his feet.

"Never mind that now. Megatron's here! He headed off in that direction just before you arrived," Dreadwing shouted as he indicated a large building a short ways away from where Mu and Le Creuset were fighting.

"Understood Dreadwing, can you and Wheeljack handle Devastator," Optimus asked as he fired some rounds at the large green combiner from his blaster.

"Hey we've lasted this long haven't we? I think we'll be fine so long as Mu and Dearka can handle their opponents," Wheeljack replied.

"Understood. Good luck then," Optimus told the two as he transformed and raced off in the direction that Dreadwing had indicated.

Kira was about to engage the Duel himself when Dearka suddenly got in both of their ways. "Kira please just let me handle this," Dearka requested.

"Are you sure," Kira asked.

"Yeah."

"Alright then, but please be careful. Remember what happened between Athrun and me," Kira then requested of Dearka, a request that Yzak heard and was then shocked by as he wondered what Athrun's connection to the Freedom pilot was.

With that dealt with, Kira took off in the Freedom to help Mu and Optimus, leaving Dearka to deal with Yzak. Seeing Kira had gone, Dearka opened his cockpit so that Yzak could see him from the Duel's and then asked, "Let's lower our weapons and talk okay Yzak?"

After a moment, Yzak agreed to do ask Dearka had asked and the two soon landed their machines. Once they had both climbed out, Dearka was ready to try and talk to his friend, but before he could so much as greet the silver haired man, Yzak raised a gun to the blonde.

"Did you think I was naïve enough to believe the words of an enemy," Yzak asked.

"Have I become your enemy now," Dearka sighed.

"You're the one who went off and joined the enemy," Yzak stated.

"…I don't remember making the decision to become your enemy," Dearka then said after a moment.

"Don't give me that, and you're a traitor as well," Yzak retorted.

"I don't remember betraying the PLANTs either."

"What are you saying," Yzak demanded.

Dearka looked to the side for a moment as he thought about all he had been through since he was taken prisoner aboard the _Archangel_, though most of those thoughts revolved around Miriallia, before he replied. "Listen I just can't quietly follow orders when it looks like all we're trying to do is wipe out every last Natural alive."

That gave Yzak reason to pause for a moment, as he thought back to what he had seen since Alaska and he began to wonder, was Dearka right?

* * *

Back with the battle between Mu and Le Creuset, the masked man had just used his machine's beam claws to slice Mu's Agni gun apart, and then began grabbling against Mu as he pulled out the Strike's anti-ship sword. "If it's my fate to be shot down by you, I thought this place would be appropriate," Le Creuset then revealed to Mu, catching the Hawk of Endymion of guard long enough for Le Creuset to kick him away. "However, it doesn't look like there's any chance of that happening. After all, how could the child ever hope to defeat the parent?!"

"What," Mu exclaimed, now thoroughly confused. What was this psychopath ranting on about now? It did not matter at the moment, as Mu quickly discarded the Launcher Striker portion of the Perfect Striker pack and charged. Before he could get close enough though, Le Creuset hit him with a pair of beam anchors, causing the Strike to lose an arm, and Mu's cockpit to explode a bit, before a piece of shrapnel cut his side.

"It appears destiny is as firmly on my side as Lord Megatron is," Le Creuset boasted. Before he could continue though, Le Creuset sensed someone else approaching, something that he did not think was possible with anyone other than La Flaga. The next thing he knew, the GuAIZ's rifle was blasted apart by a beam blast, and the Freedom had blasted onto their battlefield a moment after. A pair of beam shots, and a powerful slice from the Freedom's beam saber later, and Rau Le Creuset was sent crashing down.

The masked man was determined to not let this stop him though, so he quickly climbed out of his mobile suit and raced into one of the nearby facilities. As soon as he saw his old enemy trying to make a run for it, Mu was quick to start climbing out of the cockpit and start shooting at the other blonde. "How about we do it today? Let's end this," Le Creuset called out to Mu. "Come with me, and I myself will deliver your requiem."

"What's he up to now," Mu asked himself as he gave chase to the masked man. Seeing this, Kira quickly landed the Freedom and pulled out a side arm of his own, that being an energon pistol, and ran to catch up with the former Earth Forces commander as soon as Optimus had arrived on the scene and assumed robot mode.

Kira paused behind cover for a moment with Optimus, trying to listen for any sort of sound that would lead them to wherever Mu had disappeared to after entering the facility, until they heard the sound of gunshots and Le Creuset yelling out, "Do you have any idea what this place is Mu?"

"Why would I psycho," Mu yelled back in retort, prompting Kira and Optimus to begin racing over in the direction of his voice.

"It's such a crime for you not to know," Le Creuset called back once more.

Kira and Optimus then slowed their pace for a moment, never relaxing their guard at the seemingly endless silence that followed before they figured it was worth the risk and tried calling out to Mu themselves. "Hey Mu," Kira called out.

"Mu La Flaga, can you hear us," Optimus then shouted.

"No Kira, Optimus," Mu called back in fear for the two.

"How delightful it is that you could both join us Kira Yamato and Optimus Prime," Le Creuset then cackled. "Ah now I see. You're the Freedom's pilot Kira."

Kira and Optimus continued moving until they finally spotted Mu and ran over to him as quickly as possible. "Why did you two follow me," Mu demanded in a heated whisper.

"We weren't just going to wait around outside for you. Dreadwing said that Megatron was here," Kira explained, before adopting a slightly teasing tone. "Besides if anything happened to you what would I tell Murrue?"

"Heh, nosy kid," Mu jabbed back in reply with a small grin.

"Mu La Flaga, you are wounded," Optimus stated. Kira then looked to see that Optimus was right, as there was blood coming from one side of Mu's stomach.

"Don't worry it's nothing," Mu reassured them. "But Kira, there's something you should know. If you want to use that thing you should release the safety first."

Kira then glanced to his gun and saw that Mu was corrected. "I was wondering if you would notice that on your own," Optimus stated, showing a rare moment of jest for the last Prime.

"Don't be shy. Come along with me to the place where it all began," Le Creuset called out. "Kira, this is where you were born too, now wasn't it? Oh and don't think you'll be left out Optimus Prime, there's someone here that is especially eager to see you."

"Don't fall for his tricks," Mu quickly told Kira when he noticed Kira's eyes grow wide with shock for a moment. "No matter what he says don't believe a word of it."

"Oh I assure you mighty Hawk of Endymion, not everything my loyal prophet says is a trick," a deep, dark voice called out soon after, eliciting a growl from Optimus that Kira had only heard the last Prime give one time.

"Megatron," Optimus snarled. With that bit of recognition given, Optimus quickly armed his left blaster and pulled out the Star Saber from where it was being held, and then the three ran off to chase after the two madmen. A moment later, they found themselves in a strange laboratory with enormous vats surrounding the walkway that was above it. Kira then noticed that there were several strange containment units with what looked like growing babies inside of them, a sight that Optimus also noticed as well and that made even the last Prime slightly sick. So caught up in this was Kira, that he did not realize that he was being shot at until Mu pushed him down just before any of the shots could hit.

"Does it bring back memories Kira? You should know this place," Le Creuset continued to call out mockingly. Mu simply shot off a few more rounds as he ran in the direction of the door they came from, barely avoiding the blast from Megatron's fusion cannon as Optimus returned fire with his own blaster.

"Now Optimus, we mustn't deny the boy a chance to know of his true origins should we," Megatron mocked. "After all he has a right to know."

Optimus and Mu both snarled as the latter reloaded his gun while the former readied his blade for action. Mu then quickly opened fire on the direction Le Creuset had started to shoot him from as he ducked for cover in the next room, but he was not quick enough and ended up getting shot in his shoulder. Seeing this, Kira quickly raced over to Mu, avoiding Le Creuset's shots as he did to check to make sure that the former commander was okay.

Optimus was about to charge in as well when an eerie purple glow caught his attention. Reacting quickly, Optimus swung the Star Saber upwards as the blade began to glow blue as well, only to find himself locking the blade with one that was held by Megatron. The sight of the sword shocked Optimus greatly as it seemed to be a dark version of his own. "What have you done Megatron," Optimus demanded.

"I did nothing more than give the blade life," Megatron stated. "This mighty weapon is the result of when we were fighting to secure your precious Star Saber, and now thanks to the power of the dark energon that flows through me which resonated with your sword's energy, I have a weapon that is the equal to yours. The Dark Star Saber!"

Megatron then pushed Optimus back, leading the last Prime to bring up his blaster as he crouched next to Kira and Mu's position, just as Le Creuset stepped out of the shadows. "I'm not going to kill you," the masked man revealed. "After all I made you go through the trouble of coming all this way, so I'll let you live long enough to hear the whole story."

As he said that, Le Creuset tossed a framed picture over to where Kira was along with a book of pictures. When Kira and Mu looked they were shocked to see that the images were ones they both recognized. The framed photo was identical to the one that Lord Uzumi had given Cagalli, and one of the pictures that fell out of the book was one of Mu and his father. "Aren't you the least bit curious about the extent of humanity's insatiable desires," Le Creuset asked. "About the fools who pursued their insane dream in the name of progress, because after all Kira you're a child of this too!"

Optimus was about to charge again when Megatron readied his Fusion Cannon to fire. "I'd think carefully about staying put where you are Optimus," Megatron warned. "I must insist that you listen to this story, as it explains why Rau Le Creuset is the only one I could entrust to be my prophet of humanity's end."

Now Optimus was concerned, because if Megatron was referring to the masked soldier in this way, then there had to be a good reason. Whatever that reason was, it seemed that they were about to find out first hand. "This place is a forbidden temple," Le Creuset began. "The remnants of the dream of fools who thought they could play god. Did you ever suspect that the people you've called mother and father your whole life weren't your real parents Kira?"

Kira gasped for a moment, and found his hands shaking as he held the gun, wanting to shoot this man so badly but at the same time still wanting to hear just what he was implying. "Of course not. If you were aware you wouldn't have turned out the way you did. You wouldn't have turned out so normal, free of any sign of a tainted past. You know it never occurred to me, even when Athrun first brought up your name, you might be that child. I'd always thought that the twins had died, especially you. After all, along with your father Doctor Hibiki, you were the highest priority target of Blue Cosmos."

"What, but…," Kira gasped, barely able to comprehend all this.

"But you survived, grew and threw yourself into the war, and you survived that as well. Why do you think that is," Le Creuset continued to rant. "Your story is so unlikely that even I'm starting to become convinced that they were onto something. Maybe their crazy dream had some validity."

"I'm what?! What're you trying to say about me," Kira demanded.

"You are the dream of humanity, the ultimate Coordinator," Le Creuset finally revealed. "It was in pursuit of that dream that Doctor Hibiki created the artificial womb, and you were the only viable child that it ever produced. For that result, a very large number of your siblings were sacrificed."

At this revelation, Kira was beyond simply shocked, and Mu had to push him out of the way before Rau Le Creuset had a chance to shoot him. Megatron was quick to bring up his sword to strike down the two humans, but he was instantly blocked by Optimus's own sword and then pushed back along with Le Creuset as Mu and Optimus both opened fire on the two of them.

"Get a grip Kira," Mu shouted as he dragged Kira down a nearby flight of stairs. "You're not taking his nonsense seriously are you?"

"I am not certain how much of it is truly nonsense Mu La Flaga," Optimus revealed as he continued firing at his former brother. "You must admit that the evidence of this is quite hard to argue."

Mu had to nod in consent at that as they finally made it to an underground lab and took cover, all the while hearing Le Creuset and Megatron getting closer with every step that the two took. "Today my secret shall be revealed," Le Creuset then announced as he continued on his rant from earlier. "I did not come into this world through natural birth. My genes were altered artificially, early in the embryonic state of my development. George Glen was the first Coordinator that humanity knew, so do you how much darkness spread across the world because of the chaos he unleashed? I wonder if anyone on Earth truly comprehends the full extent of what that man set into motion."

As he continued to rant, Le Creuset began turning on the lights of the room one by one, revealing more of the lab in a better light. "People paid a great price for this dream, so of course they wanted it to come true. No one ever wants to see their dreams shattered. Is that what drove them onward, because people demanded that their hopes and dreams come true no matter what?! And what did people gain from this, what did they get, what was the result of their dreams?!"

As Le Creuset continued to rant on, Optimus could practically hear Megatron's smirk at just how horrible and dark this man's soul was, and Kira found himself so in shock that he could not help but think of the things that the masked man said had occurred. "They thirsted for knowledge, they sought to fulfill their desires, and ultimately they forgot why they were doing it! Even as they proclaimed their reverence for human life, they began toying with it, and then they began destroying it," Le Creuset ranted on.

"SHUT UP," Mu roared as he fired on the masked man. The two were quickly engaged in a shoot out, but even so Le Creuset continued to rant on.

"No matter what we learn, no matter what we manage to obtain, nothing ever changes! People are amazing that way! They become envious, hate each other, and destroy each other! If that's what they truly desire, why don't they simply exterminate each other?!" As Le Creuset continued to shoot, it began to seem more like he was shooting at the objects in the lab more than he was anything else.

"What gives you the right to sound so superior," Mu demanded as he fired off some more shots at his old rival.

"You are a fool La Flaga," Megatron cackled as he fired at the last piece of equipment in the lab, causing Mu to seek cover from the debris and giving Le Creuset a chance to reload his gun. "Rau Le Creuset is the only one who has earned that right, for in the entire universe, he alone has the right to judge humanity!"

"Cut the crap you crackpot," Mu retorted.

"I agree with Mu La Flaga, Megatron," Optimus shouted as he too began firing his blaster again. "No one has the right to determine anyone's fate nor judge an entire race in such a way as either of you are suggesting, not even us!"

"As always Optimus, you are far too naïve," Megatron snarled.

"And I'm surprised you don't remember we met once before Mu," Le Creuset commented. "Long, long ago before we ever met on the battlefield."

As Le Creuset laughed madly, Mu was suddenly finding himself remembering of when he met a young man his age one day, and of how his parents' home was burned to the ground with them inside. "I am he, that arrogant fool," Le Creuset then revealed. "Who thought he could thwart death itself with his money. Al Da Flaga, your father, but I am merely that man's defective clone!"

"What," Mu cried out.

"By the AllSpark," Optimus added.

"Do you expect anyone to believe that fairy tale," Mu demanded, still trying to deal with the shock himself.

"I don't want to believe it either," Le Creuset replied. "But unfortunately, it's true! The final door is about to open, and I'm the one opening with aid from the mighty warriors who will purge humanity from the universe, the Decepticons! Then the world that we know will come to an end. This world of insatiable desires will end, and then the conceited fools who struggled with it will finally have their wish come true!"

"It won't happen! I won't let you," Kira shouted as he ran out, drawing Le Creuset's and Megatron's fire, giving Mu and Optimus the chance they needed to hit the two. The moment they did, Kira tossed a piece of shrapnel at Le Creuset, knocking his mask off of his face. The moment the mask fell, Kira and Mu both gasped in shock at the sight of Le Creuset's face, for it was indeed a face that greatly resembled Mu's enough to look like it could be the face of his father.

"Ha, so Kira Yamato, do you truly believe that you can change what is going to happen just as Optimus no doubt believes," Megatron demanded. "Nobody can do anything about it, for your world full of hatred will engulf the universe, and Le Creuset has now all but assured that does not happen, along with the Decepticons' victory in our war at last Optimus!"

Having said that, Megatron and Le Creuset quickly fled before Mu, Kira, or Optimus could do anything. At that moment, Mu finally collapsed from his injuries. Kira then walked over and said, "We've gotta go. Can you stand?"

"Yeah," Mu replied.

"There will be no need," Optimus stated as he scooped the both of them up into his hands and began to run back outside to reach the two's mobile suits so that they could meet up with the others. As he ran, Optimus prayed to Primus that the others in the harbor were alright.

* * *

It turned out that Wheeljack and Dreadwing were able to hold Devastator back long enough for Dearka to finish his talk with Yzak and for Optimus to return with Kira and a wounded Mu. As soon as Megatron had left with Le Creuset, Devastator was ordered to retreat to the _Havoc_, which was waiting outside the opposite harbor with three Nazca class ships. As he climbed back into the Buster, Dearka left his friend with a lot to think about, and the words, "I'd rather not fight you if I have the choice."

With that said and done, they all quickly raced back outside, only to find their allies engaged in battle against the _Dominion_ and the _Armageddon_ once more. Another quick look saw that the Justice was already engaged with the three enemy mobile suits of the _Dominion_, and from the way the red mobile suit was fighting, there was no doubt that Athrun had already entered the SEED Burst. Also out on the battlefield, were nearly all of the Autobots save for Elita One, Bumblebee, and Jazz, and they were already off fighting against the Combaticons and Insecticons as well.

Kira quickly brought Mu and the damaged Perfect Strike to the _Archangel_ so that Mu could get his wounds treated as quickly as possible and then charged back out onto the battlefield with Optimus close behind him. Dreadwing and Wheeljack had wanted to join the fight as well, but Optimus had ordered them to report to the _Omega II_ instead since they had already had such a rough battle with Devastator.

Kira and Dearka rushed directly over to Athrun and provided what assistance that they could, as the former entered SEED Burst himself, and the battle began heating up to a whole new level. As Kira fought though, deflecting enemy fire with his beam saber like a Jedi would deflect enemy fire with their light saber, and blasting his opponents and the enemy missiles with his beam rifle, the words of Rau Le Creuset echoed in his head. He gave himself a mental shake to bring his focus onto the battle as his moment of distraction nearly caused him to be hit by Kickback were it not for a quick intervention on Ironhide's part.

Just then, the six ships detected the Nazca class ships moving towards their position, and thinking that Z.A.F.T. and Megatron were about to attack they all began to prepare for the worst. At least they were until a communication from the _Vesalius_ caught their attention. _"Attention, the Archangel class Earth Forces vessel,"_ Le Creuset's voice called out. _"Before we commence battle I'd like to return a captive to you."_

Now everyone was confused. What captive was Le Creuset talking about, and what did any of that have to do with the current battle? These questions would have to wait as the Z.A.F.T. vessels launched their forces of GINNs, a CGUE, and the Duel, and a moment after the CGUE had launched, a small life pod was ejected from one of the ships. A few seconds later, the Seeker siblings, Breakdown, and the Decimators had launched from the _Havoc_ to join the battle as well.

"The _Eternal_ and the _Kusanagi_ will intercept the Z.A.F.T. forces and Megatron's guys. _Archangel_ and _Omega II_, you deal with the _Dominion_ and the _Armageddon_," Waltfeld then ordered.

"Understood," Murrue replied.

"Elita, have Bumblebee, Jazz, and Arcee deploy to assist Commander Waltfeld and the others," Optimus then ordered as he slashed apart a large amount of Insecticons with an energy blast from the Star Saber.

"Roger Optimus," Elita replied, and a moment later, the three were blasting off to help the two ships that were engaging the Z.A.F.T.-Decepticon forces.

As the battle continued to rage on, Waltfeld announced that Lacus had a plan to escape, but it was one that was really risky. "Overrun the _Vesalius_," Murrue shouted when she heard the idea.

"Yeah, if we're caught between two enemies we're finished. It'll be tough but we'll take our chances," Waltfeld explained.

"Very well then," Murrue agreed, and she then asked Sai and Miriallia to inform Kira and the others of the plan

The whole time this was happening the life pod that the _Vesalius_ had ejected simply floated in space for a moment, and it seemed that everyone was cautious about approaching it for fear of it being a trap of some kind. This mindset was quickly shattered as a female voice suddenly called out of the international distress channel, _"_ARCHANGEL_, _OMEGA II_ HELP ME!"_

Everyone instantly froze at the sound of the girl's voice calling out for help, but only a majority of the _Omega II_'s crew of Autobots, Natarle Badgiruel, and the _Archangel_ crew recognized the voice of Flay Allster. It went so far as to cause Kira to pause for a moment and leave himself wide open for an attack from the Raider, which hit home _hard_. Before the Calamity could capitalize on this, Flay suddenly called out again, _"Please stop it! I have something with me. A key. The key that's supposed to end this war!"_

Now that had everyone's attention, and the Calamity was ordered to retrieve the pod. Kira was not about to let the _Dominion_ get their hands on Flay though. Hey he may not have left her on the best of terms, but he was still hoping they could patch up their friendship, so with that in mind the Freedom charged after the Calamity, leading himself to be attacked from all sides by Insecticons and the Forbidden and Raider simultaneously. While the Freedom was not seriously damaged, it was rattled enough to throw Kira off long enough for the Calamity to grab the life pod Flay was in.

Everyone on the _Archangel_ and from the _Omega II_ that knew Flay was now worried for the girl's safety, but an announcement from Waltfeld that the _Eternal_ and the _Kusanagi_ were going through the Z.A.F.T.-Decepticon forces brought them back to their senses. The _Archangel_ quickly sent up a signal flare for their forces to withdraw while Optimus ordered the same for everyone but himself and the Aerialbots, who quickly went after Kira, as the young man was still chasing the Calamity in an attempt to rescue Flay.

That was when Kira's voice suddenly called out over the same channel that Flay had used a moment ago, "Flay!"

That startled both Flay and everyone of the Earth Forces-Decepticons side that recognized his voice. "Kira Yamato…he's still alive," Natarle quietly exclaimed, feeling the joy of this knowledge starting to well up inside her.

"Kira," Flay gasped, and then she adopted a happy look on her face at the knowledge that Kira was still alive as well. Unfortunately, Kira's voice would be all that Natarle and Flay would hear as confirmation, as the Aerialbots, the Justice, the Blitz, and Optimus quickly fought off his remaining attackers and pulled Kira back to the _Eternal_ while the Calamity brought Flay aboard the _Dominion_.

At long last, the Four Ships Alliance had begun to make a successful retreat, with Athrun, Dearka, and Nicol all saluting the _Vesalius_ as the ship went down. Shortly after this, both Decepticon allied forces began to retreat as well, since there was no longer any point in continuing the battle any further.

* * *

A few minutes after Kira was brought aboard the _Eternal_, the poor boy passed out from exhaustion, and no one could really blame him after hearing about what he, Mu, and Optimus had found out that day from Le Creuset and Megatron. It was now obvious that the Decepticons were playing a much bigger game than any of them had ever realized when it came to their supposed alliances with either Z.A.F.T. or the Earth Forces, but as to what exactly the endgame to it all was, none of them could even begin to imagine, not because they had no clue what it might be, but because they did not even want to imagine the ideas that had began coming to all their minds.

After a few hours, Kira had finally woke up to find Lacus, Cagalli, and Athrun all watching over him worriedly, and Cagalli was holding her picture that her father gave her along with one that Kira had found with Mu and Optimus. Seeing this, Athrun quickly grabbed Cagalli and exited the room, allowing Kira and Lacus a moment to themselves. "Hey Kira," Lacus asked, gently.

Kira shuttered for a moment before he finally found his voice. "I'll be alright, because I swore I'd never cry again."

Lacus then just smiled as she ran one of her hands through Kira's hair as she reassured him, "You know, it's okay to cry. We should cry while we're still able to."

Kira just glanced at the girl smiling at him, and upon realizing she had a point, Kira could no longer hold it back and broke down sobbing. Lacus simply smiled and held him so that he could at least have a shoulder to cry on.

* * *

"Hey what's the big idea," Cagalli demanded of Athrun as soon as the boy had pulled her out of the room Kira and Lacus were in.

Athrun just smiled as he gently told her, "This isn't the best time to ask him. He's in pretty rough shape for now anyway."

Cagalli finally nodded, conceding Athrun's point on the matter before the two just began to float in the hallway in silence. After that silence began to get a bit awkward, Athrun finally broke the silence and asked, "Do you know who's voice that was?"

"Oh you mean Flay," Cagalli asked. At Athrun's nod Cagalli explained, "She used to be on the _Archangel_. She was a friend of Kira and those other guys."

"Is that so," Athrun asked. Almost instantly after he said that, a familiar buzzing and whirring came through a nearby comm. link device as Bumblebee's face appeared on the screen.

"Come on, she wasn't that bad," Cagalli told Bumblebee. The scout just let out another series of beeps that caused Cagalli to widen her eyes in shock at what he said, before she eventually had to nod in agreement with him on that.

"What did he say," Athrun asked.

"Well the first thing was that Bee thought that friend might be too strong a word to describe Flay's relationship with Kira and most of the others," Cagalli replied, quickly shutting off the comm. device so that she could hopefully avoid anymore teasing from Arcee about a "relationship" between her and Athrun.

"Okay, so what was the second thing then," Athrun asked, still confused about what Bumblebee had said after.

"You don't want to know," Cagalli told him in a tone of finality. Athrun figured that if Cagalli was saying that then she was probably right, so he just left it at that and turned his gaze out the window for a moment.

After a few seconds, Athrun stated softly, "It seems like everyone is crying for some reason."

Cagalli looked at Athrun for a minute before she hummed in agreement and then found herself resting her head on Athrun's shoulder. Athrun was stunned by this, but he was quick to relax and just simply put his arm around Cagalli as the two stared out into space, this time in comfortable silence.

* * *

Nicol and Dearka had been sitting in the mess hall of the _Archangel_ after the blonde had returned from the ship and gotten out of his pilot suit, and Dearka had taken this time to tell Nicol about his encounter with Yzak. In his recounting of the event, Dearka told Nicol how he had revealed to Yzak that the both of them were still alive and fighting with the Four Ships Alliance, of what had happened between Kira and Athrun, and everything else that he felt Yzak needed to hear. As he listened, Nicol's heart went out to his friend a great deal, but he found he could not say or do anything for the blonde other than smile and tell him that everything would work out in the end.

Dearka gave Nicol a grateful smile for trying anyways, but it still did nothing to help make him feel any better. Just when the two were about to just sit there in contemplation, the sound of approaching footsteps reached their ears. They both turned to see Miriallia was approaching them with a concerned look on her face, and Nicol then said, "I'll give you guys a minute. I've gotta go do some work on the Blitz anyways."

With that, the green haired boy left, knowing that Dearka was throwing Nicol a glare that stated he knew what Nicol was doing. As soon as Nicol was gone, Miriallia looked down for a moment before shyly saying, "Hey."

"Hey," Dearka replied, not really feeling like saying anything he would normally say to the girl.

"I uh…heard about what happened between you and your friend," Miriallia then commented, trying to get a conversation going. At Dearka's confused glance, Miriallia then gathered up her courage and stated, "I just want you to know that…well if you ever wanted to talk…I might be willing to listen provided you don't say anything stupid."

Dearka then gave Miriallia a truly grateful smile at that as he nodded in thanks. Seeing that she had finished what she came to do, Miriallia turned to leave, but just as she was at the door Dearka called out, "Wait."

Miriallia then turned back to see Dearka had a surprisingly nervous look on his face as he asked, "You want to…I don't know. Join me for lunch or something?"

Miriallia smiled and turned back around as she said, "I'd like that."

The two then just went over to claim a pair of food trays and settled down to enjoy their meal, but really they were actually enjoying each other's company much more and the conversations that soon followed between the two of them.

* * *

After Flay had been brought aboard the _Dominion_ she was immediately greeted by Natarle and Azrael, the latter of which she handed the computer disc that Le Creuset had given her to. After the blonde man had left, it gave the two women a chance to talk for a minute until Flay ended up crying into Natarle's arms, an action that Natarle was more than happy to let the girl do as she was sure she needed it.

While that was going on, Azrael had taken the computer disc to his office to look over what was on it, and he was not disappointed. There on the disc, were the full specs of the Freedom and the Justice. All of their weapons, their capabilities, and most important of all their power sources. We he saw the information on the Energon Reactor Cores, Azrael let out a laugh that would be befitting of a madman and cried out, "Perfect!"

"What is it Azrael," Starscream huffed from the communicator on Azrael's desk.

"This information will change the war," Azrael explained. "The Energon Reactor Core can allow machines like the Freedom and the Justice to have the same destructive capabilities as a nuclear powered machine and at the same time, they use as little energon as possible, and as for what energon they do use, the reactor is able to recycle so that the need to resupply with fresh energon is minimized so greatly that you would barely ever need to resupply the energon levels with the fresh stuff again!"

"Well now that is fascinating," Starscream admitted. "No doubt the work of either Knockout or even Shockwave, assuming Megatron had found a way to contact Cybertron. How soon do you plan to weaponized the first prototypes?"

Azrael smirked with glee as he replied, "Immediately. With this, we won't ever need to bother with the nuclear technology and weapons ever again, and not only that, but those damn Coordinators will finally meet their end!"

Starscream then joined Azrael in his mad cackling, but not because it was in excitement for what this promised, but rather because of how much of a fool Azrael continued to seem to be.

* * *

Aboard the _Omega II_, Optimus was conferencing with the commanders of the other three vessels and Chief Erica on what they had learned and what their next move should be. "The knowledge that Megatron seems to be deceiving Z.A.F.T. to further some ulterior final plan while Le Creuset acts as the only insider he has is not an unexpected move on his part," Optimus stated. "But the question now is how deep does it truly go?"

"So are you saying that there's a chance that Starscream is some kind of deep cover agent for him or something, cause I can assure you that when he shot me it was plenty real," Waltfeld then argued.

"Whether or not Starscream is involved somehow is irrelevant at this point," Murrue stated. "What I'm more concerned about is what Flay said before she was brought to the Earth Forces-Decepticons."

"I agree," Kisaka commented. "She said that she had a key that would end the war, but that could mean many things, especially given what Optimus has told us about his, Mu's, and Kira's encounter with Megatron and Le Creuset."

"Either way, we must be certain that we are ready for whatever Megatron has planned," Optimus stated. "Chief Erica, how goes the project you are currently working on?"

Erica then took that moment to show an image of what looked like a pink version of the Strike with an Orb crest on one shoulder as she reported, "The Strike Rouge is almost completed, and thanks to Ironhide's help it'll be able to fight on the same level as the Perfect Strike. I'm certain you are all aware of this by now, but I will say again anyway that this machine was designed for Cagalli at her father's request."

"I still have reservations about sending young Cagalli out in a mobile suit," Optimus stated. "But given the circumstances, it would seem that we cannot afford to be shy even one warrior if we have any way available for them to join the fight."

Having said that, everyone decided that it would be best to continue the following day once everyone had rested up, and the communication line closed. Optimus then turned command of the Bridge over to Jazz while he left to go rest in his quarters. As he made his way through the _Omega II_'s hallways, Optimus could feel in his spark that humanity was about to face their darkest hour.

* * *

**_AN: Wow she is really buried under there huh?_**

**_Kira: Are you sure it's not going to be a problem since we need her for like, the rest of the trilogy?_**

**_AN: How many times do I have to say this? These parts of the chapter are like Looney Toon world, we can't get hurt so long as we are in these notes and in this room._**

**_Kira: Just making sure. By the way, what was with the monologue of Azrael's on the Energon Reactor Core?_**

**_AN: Well long story short, I figured that I needed to give a bit more detail about the mechanics of the Energon Reactor Core since I hadn't done so yet, so I figured what better way or time to do so than here?_**

**_Wheeljack: Makes sense to me, and I loved what you did with me at that one point earlier on the chapter when me and Wing Saber went to help the _Kusanagi_._**

**_AN: Yeah I figured you would Jackie, and for those of you who can figure out the reference, give yourselves a pat on the back, and I just want to go on record and say that I did not say that all those movies were good, because I won't deny that some of them could've been better, and you know which ones I'm talking about, but the number of good ones among them was still pretty decent. Anyways, Onto the preview!..._**

**_The Earth Forces-Decepticons have weaponized the Energon Reactor Core and are preparing a final operation to bring down Z.A.F.T. and the PLANTs. Upon learning of this information, the Four Ships Alliance quickly races into the battlefield once more, only to find that Z.A.F.T. has now completed GENESIS thanks to the efforts of a long lost Autobot. The final battle is about to begin, and one can only begin to wonder just who will be left alive when the fighting finally ends and the dust settles. Next time on Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Prime…_****Chapter 27: The Final Nightmare Begins****_. Brave the approaching storm of chaos Autobots and Gundam!_**

**_Please read and review, and we'll see you next time for the beginning of this story's end!_**


	27. 27: The Final Nightmare Begins

_**AN: Welcome to the beginning of the end of this story. I caution you now, when you read this chapter, you will find action, romance, tragedy, betrayal, and all around epicness that could only be experience if one were to truly combine Transformers and Gundam in a way that I hope I have managed to do. Before we go on, I have some reviews I'd like to address.**_

_**First off from "Seeker213": A very good question my friend, but I'm afraid that I cannot give an answer to without going into the full answer and essentially giving away a great deal of a plot point in the sequel.**_

_**Next is from "DDD": I am fully aware that there are traditionally six Constructicons, but I had my reasons for not including Bonecrusher. One of those reasons will be revealed later on in this chapter.**_

_**Finally a Guest review: No Omega Supreme will NOT be making an appearance. If you would look back at every time Optimus mentions the reasoning behind naming the **_**Omega II_, you will find he says that the ship is named for a fallen Autobot warrior. That alone should be a big clue as to the current status of Omega Supreme. Now whether or not I include in him in a flashback later on or not, well that really depends on whether or not I can incorporate it into the story but at the moment I'm afraid that Omege Supreme is not planned to make an appearance. Now with that out of the way, onto the show._**

_**I do not own anything from either the Gundam or Transformers franchises or any other franchise mentioned in this story.**_

* * *

**Chapter 27: The Final Nightmare Begins**

After they had left the battle that had taken place at the Mendel Colony, the _Dominion_ and the _Armageddon_ had returned to the Earth Forces Lunar Base so that Azrael and Starscream could formally report their findings. After handing the data over to some of the Earth Forces technicians and the data on the Energon Reactor Core technology had been looked at, everyone was more than simply impressed with the possibilities it presented, they were ecstatic. Though it was quite clear that not everyone had the same ideas for this technology as others.

"I agree obtaining data on the Energon Reactor Cores was impressive Azrael; however, we're not too sure about your idea about weaponizing it for an all-out attack," One of the administrators of the Earth Forces commented to the blonde in the meeting that was taking place regarding the plans Azrael had proposed.

"Given that the energy crisis here on Earth has reached critical proportions, we think it would be better to focus on that," another one of his colleagues then pointed out. At this though, a very large fist slammed into the wall drawing everyone's attention towards Starscream himself, who had been allowed into the meeting as the "foremost expert" on all things energon.

"You people are all fools you do realize this correct," Starscream asked rhetorically. "Your energy crisis is a problem yes, but your enemies of the PLANTs are the ones who caused it to begin with, am I wrong?" At everyone's silence in response, Starscream took that to mean he was not. "This small energy crisis is nothing compared to that of Cybertron's, or need I remind you that my entire home world is now but a barren, lifeless wasteland? It is quite simple, if you eliminate the ones who caused the initial crisis, then there is no need to fear another one happening."

"Thank you Commander Starscream. Those are all excellent points," Azrael smiled, just missing Starscream's smirk as he turned to address the rest of those assembled. "As the commander just stated, we're not going to win this war unless we attack. Our enemies are the Coordinators, so we must wipe them out completely. Besides it's not like we haven't used something as powerful if not more powerful than nuclear weapons in the past, so what reason is there to hold back now?"

"But…that was all your doing," one of the ministers pointed out, getting a glare from Azrael in response.

"You don't collect powerful weapons just for the fun of it," Azrael continued to argue. "These Energon Reactor Core weapons are by far the most powerful weapons that human history has seen to date, and we have to use them. I mean we spent good money building them just for that purpose right? So let's hurry and fire them, and finally we will put an end to this war once and for all."

At that point, Azrael's case had been made strong enough to get everyone to agree with it, and orders were sent out to the sixth and seventh Orbital Fleet that they were to launch an attack on Boaz and the PLANT homeland at twelve hundred hours. With the meeting adjourned, Starscream left to prepare his ship and forces for action while Azrael returned to the _Dominion_ to ensure that Commander Badgiruel understood her role in this. Something about the female captain of the second Archangel Class ship was bothering him, and Azrael needed to make absolute certain that it would not be a problem.

What Azrael did not know was that he would soon have a problem with someone other than Natarle Badgiruel, and this fact was reinforced as soon as Starscream had arrived in his quarters aboard the _Armageddon_ and opened a coded communication line to an unknown person or persons. Once the connection was established, Starscream reported, "The Earth Forces are ready and preparing to attack the PLANTs as you had hoped that they would sir."

_"__Excellent Starscream,"_ replied the person through a voice synthesizer that was being used in case someone was listening in. _"When they begin their assault on the PLANTs themselves, be sure that your troops understand their roles."_

"Of course sir," Starscream replied as the communication ended. With the line cut, Starscream could only chuckle with glee at what was about to happen, how that fool Azrael was about to make it so easy to happen, and at the thought of Azrael's face when he finally discovers the truth of the purpose behind their alliance.

* * *

It was a few hours after this meeting that had taken place between Azrael, Starscream, and the rest of Earth Forces command, that the Orbital Fleets that had been given orders to attack had begun their assault on Boaz, and Z.A.F.T. had responded in kind with Decepticon drones alongside them. If one were in the midst of the battle itself, they would find Z.A.F.T. GuAIZs facing off with Strike Daggers, and Vehicons fighting against Insecticon swarms, and amidst this chaos were the Calamity, Raider, and Forbidden along with the Combaticons and three Insecticon leaders who had deployed as soon as their ships had arrived in the area.

From the PLANT capital, Patrick Zala, Le Creuset, Ezalia Joule, and the rest of what was left of the chairman's people were meeting in Zala's office observing the battle. From where he stood, Rau Le Creuset could only smirk in anticipation at what was to come before finally commenting aloud, "I wonder…"

Everyone instantly turned to face the masked man as Zala asked him to go on with what he was thinking. "Getting past Boaz is no easy task, and I'm sure the Earth Forces are well aware of that. I can't imagine them attacking it if they knew it was utterly hopeless, yet they're suddenly making their move. I can't help wondering why," Le Creuset stated.

"I wouldn't worry. They're probably attacking with regular mobile suits and a few new models. They're fooling themselves if they think those forces will defeat us," Ezalia Joule argued confidently.

"I would be careful of such thoughts if I were you Councilwoman," a deep, cold voice then warned. Everyone turned to see Megatron himself walk into the room from an already closing Ground Bridge portal.

"Lord Megatron, this is a surprise," Chairman Zala commented, truly meaning what he had said. "I had thought you would be overseeing the final adjustments to GENESIS and ensuring your troops were ready for anything."

"Rest assured Chairman Zala, my forces are always ready for combat, and all that is left to deal with on GENESIS is being taken care of by your people and the efforts of our guest," Megatron replied.

"What did you mean earlier if you don't mind my asking Lord Megatron," Joule asked.

Megatron's face then turned as somber as possible for him as he simply said, "I have seen far too many soldiers of both Autobot and Decepticon lose their battle or simply perish in the war for Cybertron due to having far too much confidence in their strengths Councilwoman. I am simply cautioning you on making a similar mistake."

"Please Lord Megatron, Le Creuset. Whatever point you are both trying to make you had better make now. Tell me," Zala cut in.

Le Creuset took this as he cue to continue with what he was saying earlier. "I'm not quite sure what we're dealing with here, but as you're all aware there are a number of wild cards that are in play right now. Wild cards like the Freedom, the Justice, and Lacus Clyne."

"And of course we cannot forget the wild cards that are the Autobots and Optimus Prime," Megatron added, just to ensure that they did not forget just how many enemies they had at the moment.

"Are you two serious," Zala demanded. "You're both saying that our enemies have somehow managed to regain their nuclear capabilities?"

"No sir not at all," Le Creuset assured Zala. "I was actually suggesting something else. Though it is as nearly impossible as it is that the enemy has regained nuclear capabilities, but what I am suggesting that our enemy may have gotten their hands on the Energon Reactor Core technology."

Before anyone could attempt to protest this, a bright light from the screen drew everyone's attention back to it. "Chairman Zala sir," one of the advisors reported. "We have the last transmission from Boaz just before the defense satellite was destroyed. The enemy had not fired nukes at them, they shot at them with energon weapons. Sir the readouts indicate that they used the Energon Reactor Core technology."

Zala glanced at Megatron to see if what they had just seen could be confirmed, and Megatron simply nodded in response. "Damn those Natural scum," Zala shouted in anger. Zala then quickly composed himself as he turned to everyone else in the room and ordered, "Hurry and set up a defense line. Le Creuset, Megatron, we're going to Jachin Due. We'll strike back with GENESIS, assuming its ready."

Megatron simply smirked with glee as he replied, "As I said, all preparations for GENESIS and its completion are nearly finished, including the matters of the cyber matter formula."

"Well then I suppose that there's no reason to keep our Autobot guest around for much longer now is there," Zala asked.

"No there is not," Megatron agreed with a devilish smirk that was matched only by Rau Le Creuset. What none of them knew was that a certain medical specialist had been listening in on this conversation and was already making plans of his own.

* * *

During this time, the Four Ships Alliance had found a place to temporarily dock and resupply in the midst of an asteroid field, where they had received intelligence that the Earth Forces were planning to launch an attack on Boaz. Lacus was speaking with Murrue and Optimus on what they should do about the situation when they suddenly received word that it was too late to do anything. As soon as they had, they immediately sounded the alarm and alerted everyone that they were preparing to roll out.

Having heard the alert themselves, Kira and Athrun had hurried to the _Eternal_'s bridge to find out what was going on. When they asked if the assault on Boaz had started, Lacus was sad to say that things had gone far beyond that in the worst possible way. Waltfeld had gone on to say that Boaz had already been destroyed and that it was taken out with weapons that were equipped with Energon Reactor Cores. Everyone was shocked at this revelation, and were all wondering how it was possible that they could even possess the Energon Reactor Core technology, let alone a weaponized version of it.

Everyone but Mu La Flaga that is, as the former mobile armor pilot stated that nothing surprised him anymore after JOSH-A, and that he was sure that Le Creuset and Megatron were somehow behind this. This sentiment was shared with Optimus Prime and everyone else as they all thought back to the previous battle. "So this is what they meant," Optimus growled.

"Seems that way, and I guarantee you that the PLANTs won't take this lying down," Aisha told everyone.

"She's right, and the PLANTs already have the Energon Reactor Core technology," Waltfeld added.

"Do you think the PLANTs will use Energon Reactor weapons," Kira asked as he prepped the Freedom for launch.

"Normally I'd say no if my father were himself, but right now I'm not sure," Athrun stated sadly.

Dreadwing then added his own two cents as he stated, "If Chairman Zala really has fallen as far into Megatron's darkness as it seems he has then there is no doubt that Megatron will find some way to convince him to use something that may be far worse than that."

That did nothing to make Kira feel any better as he wondered aloud, "Why do things like that exist in the first place? Energon weapons, or nuclear weapons, or even more so why are there even mobile suits and guns?!"

It was a question that none of them really knew the answer to, because it was a question that many people would have asked for years. Why is it that weapons of any kind exist really? It was hard to really say, but it did not matter at this point, because right now, they had a job to do. Soon enough they saw the early signs of fighting that indicated that the Lunar Fleet had begun their attack on the PLANTs as they approached the battlefield.

Before they began their own attack, Lacus had a quick speech to give to everyone. "Everyone please, we can't let even one energon reactor missile hit the PLANTs. If the blade of light strikes down on those who are innocent it can only lead to never-ending tears and hatred." She then paused for a moment before commenting silently, "I'm worried it may already be too late to stop them. The choice we're making may be one of evil as well, for we call for peace but with weapons in our hands. Nevertheless, allow us to break this chain of endless conflict. Give us strength."

Having said her piece, the mobile suit forces of the Four Ships Alliance immediately launched to head into battle, with the _Eternal_ deploying the METEOR support machines for the Freedom and the Justice, and the _Omega II_ sending out Dreadwing and the Aerialbots so that they could move ahead with the mobile suit forces.

Once the flying members of the _Omega II_ had launched, Optimus then ordered, "Jazz, take command of the Autobot forces in the field. Elita One and I shall remain aboard the _Omega II_ to provide support."

Jazz turned to give Optimus a questioning glance, wondering why Optimus would not want to lead their team in the field himself, but one look in Optimus's optics told Jazz that the last Prime knew that now was not the time for him to be in the field just yet so he simply nodded and motioned for everyone to follow him to the ship's armory in order to load up with extra weapons before heading out.

* * *

The battle to defend the PLANTs was not going well, as Yzak could easily see that they were being beaten back by the combined strengths of the Calamity, the Raider, and the Forbidden, and it did not help matters that the Combaticons were in play as well, having already combined into Bruticus. The silver haired boy was extremely glad that the Constructicons were there to provide some assistance as Devastator, something that made him think back to when he had asked Slipstream about the one missing member of the Constructicons after he saw that the logs on the_Nemesis_ indicated that there were supposed to be six. The acting leader of the Seeker siblings had simply stated that all she could say was that there were some Decepticons that had a different way of doing things than what Megatron wanted and that the missing member, Bonecrusher, was one of these few.

Yzak was brought out of his temporary state of distraction when he saw that the ships that would be firing the energon reactor missiles were nearly in firing range of the PLANTs, and he then immediately ordered his team to intercept them. This was not easily accomplished, if it was accomplished at all, because the three enemy mobile suits and their Decepticon allies were intercepting the Z.A.F.T.-Decepticon forces before any of them could even get close. Just when it seemed hopeless, a large barrage of blasts came from out of nowhere and destroyed the missiles before they could get close enough to do any damage.

As Yzak looked to the source he saw that it was the Freedom, the Justice, the Aerialbots, and Dreadwing who had stopped the missiles as they all blasted onto the battlefield and into action just as the four ships that made up the Autobots and their allies arrived. "Soldiers of the Earth Forces please cease your attack at once," Lacus's voice called out. "Are you truly aware of the consequences of what you are about to do, or are you even aware that you are doing exactly as the Decepticons wish for you to do?"

The pink princess's pleas seemed to fall on deaf ears, as the Earth Forces simply switched to target both the PLANTs and the four ships that were fighting to stop both sides that were allied with the evil beings of Cybertron. The Perfect Strike, Buster, and Blitz were all quick to respond and shoot down the offending weapons before they could get even close to their ships, as Jazz readied his own weapons as he told his fellow Autobots, "Only shoot down the missiles or disable the human's fighters. As for the 'Cons, Optimus has given us orders that we are to shoot to kill."

The Autobots all nodded in understanding at this and immediately opened fire on the approaching Decepticon forces of both sides. It seemed that the battlefield would erupt into chaos once more until the Z.A.F.T.-Decepticon forces started to pull back while Starscream's Decepticons seemed to be scrambling to get away from something as well. That was when the _Omega II_ received a transmission from someone they did not expect to hear from, _"_Omega II_ do you read me…this is Ratchet! You must…now! Megatron and Z.A.F.T. are firing GENESIS and the beam will seriously harm…laced with cyber matter…retreat now!"_

All the Autobots were all shocked to hear Ratchet's voice, but they were even more shocked at what he had just said. "Elita, can you do anything to clear up that transmission," Optimus quickly asked.

Elita tried to do so but eventually just shook her head no as she replied, "It's too late we've already lost the signal."

_"__Get out of there! Freedom, Justice, and Dreadwing you all need to move,"_ Yzak's voice then called out. _"They're gonna fire GENESIS and it'll destroy even Cybertronians if they get caught in the blast!"_

That was persuasion enough for everyone to start moving away from the same blast radius that the Z.A.F.T-Decepticon forces had, or at least everyone who had received the warning. Barely seconds later, a large object had appeared on everyone's sensors and the object then fired a massive, red, blue, and green colored ray that seemed to plow through the battlefield and eradicate anything that was caught in its path or on its edge. The mere sight of this destruction was horrifying enough to make everyone but the Decepticons, Chairman Zala, and Le Creuset stare and tremble in fear of this terrible machine and the devastation that it had caused.

The Earth Forces fleet had taken the worst of it and it led Natarle to order a signal to retreat to be sent to all the surviving ships. It was not long after this that the Four Ships Alliance also began to fall back as well in order to regroup themselves, and they did so as quickly as possible so that the enemy would not try and take them down as they began their retreat. Kira and Athrun did remain for a moment to stop Z.A.F.T. from destroying the retreating Earth Forces-Decepticons, but they still moved as quickly as they could to retreat with their allies. As they all did retreat though, they could all hear the Z.A.F.T.-Decepticons cheering in victory.

* * *

It was not long after the _Dominion_ and their allies had retreated that Azrael had already started going on a mad rant to whoever he could about why this had happened, clearly showing that he could not care less about the people who needed help right then and there. This fact was proven more true when Natarle said that they would be over to assist an allied ship that was requesting assistance and he demanded, "Stop being such an idiot woman! Does this ship have to take care of everything?!"

"Director Azrael, we have to," Natarle tried to reason, but she was quickly, and rudely interrupted.

"No we do not," Starscream snarled from over the comm. device. "If anything we should be preparing the surviving ships for battle at once, wouldn't you agree Azrael?"

"I don't you to tell me how to do my job alien," Azrael snarled, getting an annoyed huff in response. "All surviving ships are to launch another attack immediately. Concentrate on maintenance and resupply for now!"

"That's absurd! Our forces have sustained far too much damage to launch a successful attack! Even the two of you should be able to see that," Natarle snapped in argument, finally feeling like she was reaching her boiling point with these two.

"Reinforcements and supplies from Lunar Headquarters are going to be here any moment now, but your attitude is disturbing. You're the one who doesn't understand the situation here," Azrael snarled as he then pointed at GENESIS. "You see that?! We can't afford to leave that just sitting out there! What do they mean the Naturals' barbaric nuclear weapons when they can destroy the Earth from here with that thing. That monstrous device of theirs is by far the most barbaric weapon of them all. We have no idea when they'll point that thing at Earth and make it their next target."

Natarle hated to admit it, but Azrael did have a point, but just barely. Whatever that thing was, it also destroyed a large amount of the Insecticon swarm along with their own forces, and if it was capable of doing that to Cybertronians then who knew what it would do to the Earth. "If we wait for them to fire it before we do anything it'll be too late, and it's all because people like you in the military gave them the time to build that thing," Azrael continued to rant on. "Maybe it's absurd, be we have to destroy it. That machine and the PLANTs too, before they destroy Earth!"

"I couldn't agree more," Starscream stated. "So do what you can to ready anyone who is able to go on Captain Badgiruel, that is unless you want to hand in a resignation now."

Natarle softly growled at this as she clenched her fists but finally stated as calmly as she could, "No sir. I'll have the message sent out. If you'll both excuse me for a moment, I need a moment to deal with what just happened. I'll be in my quarters if you need me."

Azrael was able to calm down enough to see that what had transpired had indeed had some effect on the normally tough as nails commander and allowed this. As soon as Natarle had reached her quarters she came to a decision that she felt she should have made a long time ago. With that in mind, she pulled out her old Autobot comm. link headset and keyed a coded frequency that she was sure that the Autobots would be able to receive without Starscream or Azrael noticing.

* * *

Everyone in the Four Ships Alliance was scrambling to prepare themselves for the next confrontation and also to figure out what had just happened and what GENESIS was. The fact that Ratchet had contacted them to warn them it was firing was worrying enough as it is, but then there was also the matter on what the weapon itself was. This was something that Erica Simmons had a few ideas on and was quick to share. "They fired some kind of modified gamma-ray beam," Erica explained in the meeting that had immediately begun aboard the _Omega II_ as soon as they all had retreated to a safe area. "The rays were generated by what I'm assuming was an energon explosion and then immediately focused to produce a heated wave of energy. Think of it as a giant energon powered gamma-ray laser. If that thing were shot at Earth, the extreme radiation would sear the entire surface to a crisp, wiping out all forms of life."

"Do you think they'll do it? Fire on Earth," Murrue then asked the impending question. Though none of them wanted it to be asked it still had to be asked even if it did have everyone worried.

"Essentially the role of any long range weapon of mass destruction is to serve as a deterrent, but that doesn't matter at this point anymore because both have been used at this point. Energon reactor missiles, and that thing," Waltfeld then explained.

"It seems neither side will hesitate to use them again," Aisha then added solemnly. This was not something any of them wanted to think about, but even so that did not make it any less true. Everyone stood there in worried silence for a moment before Hound felt he should say something.

"The first time in the war for Cybertron that I actually had to shoot someone that I had once considered a good mech before they joined Megatron, it made me sick. I was told that I would get used to it in time, and after a while that's what happened for all of us," the old Wrecker proclaimed softly.

"Are you saying it's the same with energon missiles and that weapon," Murrue asked.

"Isn't it the same thing," Hound asked rhetorically. "People of any world can get used to anything, even fighting, and killing each other. To be honest, there are days when I wonder what us Autobots will do with ourselves when our war with the Decepticons is finally over, because we have been fighting as soldiers for so long."

"Is it weapons that are the cause of all this fighting, or does the real cause lie within the human heart," Lacus wondered aloud. That made everyone pause in contemplation for a moment before Kira raised his head to make a declaration of his own.

"Whether its energon weapons or that light we can't let them use those things on each other," the supposedly ultimate Coordinator declared getting everyone's attention. "If that happens again, it'll be too late for anything."

Everyone readily agreed with Kira on that with proud and determined smiles and they all found that their will to carry on their battle had now been reignited in full. With that in mind, Elita felt that now was as good a time as any to bring up something else about GENESIS. "Everyone, as you all know Ratchet had tried to contact us to warn us about the GENESIS weapon being fired, but what we did not know was why Ratchet himself knew this. At least not until now," Elita announced.

"What do you mean by that Elita," Ironhide asked as everyone's attention turned to the Autobots currently sole medical officer.

"I had the _Omega II_'s sensors analyze the beam that GENESIS fired, and Chief Erica was right in saying that energon was involved in making it work, but what she did not know was what kind of energon it was." Elita then paused to take a moment before she made the announcement. "The _Omega II_'s sensors indicated that the beam was composed of a unique mixture of what I can only assume was synthetic energon."

"But that's impossible," Jazz protested. "You and Bee destroyed the only piece of the synth-en that could be found in that cave."

"And we also recorded the data on that slab and gave it to Ratchet," Elita pointed out. "If the 'Cons did find the other half, and I'd say it's very likely they did, then how could they complete the formula?"

"By taking the Doc prisoner and forcing him to give it to them," Wheeljack answered.

"Exactly, but that's not all. Whatever kind of mixture of synthetic energon they used, when it was used in conjunction with that beam as it was, it did not just fire a powerful laser. It was firing a laser that was infused with cyber matter."

"Cyber matter? What's that," Athrun asked.

"The one thing that could be the key to restoring Cybertron," Dreadwing answered.

"Are you saying that thing is shooting out stuff that could be used to bring your planet back to life," Cagalli asked in quiet shock.

"Yes he is," Arcee replied. "And not only that, but if that is the case, then if it is fired at Earth, then not only will all existing life on the planet be wiped out, but Megatron will have been able to effectively transformed your world into a new Cybertron."

"Which is all the more reason why Megatron would want the device fired on your world and would do anything in his power to ensure that it is," Optimus finished grimly. That was enough to rattle everyone in the room. The idea that Earth could be destroyed by the very thing that could restore the Autobots home planet was not something that anyone liked thinking about, because now that meant that if they destroyed GENESIS, then they would doom Cybertron as well.

"With all of this in mind, it is all the more reason why we must destroy the device," Optimus then declared, further shocking everyone.

"Whoa Prime. Weren't you listening? We could use that thing to bring back Cybertron if we can capture it," Ironhide immediately argued.

"And how would we accomplish this Ironhide," Optimus asked. "We have no way of transporting the device to our home world anymore than we have a way to get ourselves there, and even if we were to leave it intact until we could find a way, we would only risk the device being recaptured again to be used against our new friends and their world. Can we truly ask humanity to risk so much just so that we may have a way to restore Cybertron?"

All of the Autobots and Dreadwing hung their heads in sadness knowing the answer already. While they all wanted to bring back Cybertron, the risk of leaving that thing as it was without having a way back to the metal world put too much at risk, and none of them were willing to place Earth in danger like that. Kira and Athrun exchanged a sad look at their friends' predicament before Athrun stated, "We could still try to keep it as intact as possible. Maybe if we secured the formula for the cyber matter or even the necessary devices that the machine needs…"

"I truly appreciate what you are trying to do for us Athrun, but even so I cannot allow you to take such risks just because we want our home world to be able to live again," Optimus replied with a sad smile, grateful for the gesture.

Kira wanted to say something as well, but instead he simply nodded in understanding as he told his Cybertronian friends, "No matter what happens, we'll help you find a way to get your world back, no matter the cost."

All the Autobots and Dreadwing gave Kira a grateful smile for this, knowing that he meant what he said, and judging by the looks on the faces of everyone else present, the feeling was more than mutual. With that now out of the way, Erica decided to bring up the one thing they had in their advantage. "The only thing we have in our favor is that they can't fire consecutive shots," Erica explained. "My guess is they need to change the mirror every time they fire it."

"But the main section is made of Phase Shift, Cybertronian armor, and we have to get past Jachin Due and all of the defensive lines they placed around it first," Waltfeld pointed out.

"The Earth Forces will be coming with a full scale attack, but it'll still be hard to get past those defenses," Aisha finished.

Before anyone could begin to wonder where the next target would be, the alert came through that the battle was about to begin. It was time to get underway. Everyone who was not a part of the_Omega II_'s crew began to head for the Ground Bridge so that they could return to their ships until Lacus called out to Kira getting him to pause for a moment. Kira then turned to Athrun, silently telling him and the others to go on ahead, which Athrun replied with a silent nod.

As soon as the others had left, Lacus held out a ring to Kira and said, "Take this."

Kira slowly accepted the ring and stared before he realized what Lacus's meaning behind giving it to him was. He then smiled and told her, "This means a lot."

"Please come back, okay? Come back to me," Lacus then requested, pleading Kira with her every word and her eyes that he would.

Kira smiled and then simply nodded before he turned to go. As he did though, he paused for a moment before he turned to Lacus once again and placed a small kiss on her cheek. "You be careful too Lacus," Kira then requested, and then headed off so that he could get to the Freedom.

Lacus watched him go before Optimus walked over to her and declared, "I swear to you by the matrix Lacus Clyne that I will do everything in my power to ensure that Kira Yamato survives the battle that is to come."

Lacus gave Optimus a grateful smile and then gave the Autobot leader's leg a tight hug in thanks before she too raced off to return to the _Eternal_. As he watched her go, Optimus gave a silent prayer of his own to Primus saying, "Please Primus, protect them and all the others that fight with them and us this day so that they may all have a future together and see the day when all are one."

* * *

During that time, Athrun and Cagalli were waiting for the Ground Bridge to be freed up so that they could use it for their own travels when Athrun noticed that Cagalli was staring at him. "What's up," Athrun asked.

"Nothing. It's just that this time I can go to," Cagalli revealed. "We had all the parts for the Strike Rouge in storage and Miss Erica was able to finally finish assembling it with a few extra touches courtesy of Ironhide." The blonde then saw that the Ground Bridge was now keyed up for the _Kusanagi_ and prepared to leave. "See you later."

"Cagalli wait," Athrun called out as he grabbed Cagalli's arm to pull her to a stop. "You're going? In this Strike Rouge?"

"What's the matter," Cagalli demanded, getting a bit angry at Athrun for what she felt was him acting like it was too dangerous for her to be out in a mobile suit. "I've had more than enough mobile suit training, and I'm a lot better than the Astray pilots."

"Well yeah but…I mean," Athrun stuttered, but Cagalli was quick to cut him off.

"What we want to do, what we can do, and what we've got to do. It's the same for everyone. For you, for Kira, for Lacus, and for me too. Sure sometimes it seems pointless to go out and fight, but with everything that's going on now we have to." Athrun just gave Cagalli a sad, sympathetic look, still obviously worried for the blonde, and that was getting Cagalli a bit riled up. "Don't look at me like that. You take a lot more chances out there than I ever would! I'm not gonna let you die."

Now Athrun was getting convinced, and felt that maybe Cagalli was right in wanting to go out, but he was more shocked at how determined she was. "I'll be watching over that guy who might be my little brother too," Cagalli then added softly.

"Little brother," Athrun asked in a slightly teasing tone. "Couldn't he be your big brother?"

"No way! He's definitely younger," Cagalli protested.

Athrun just chuckled as he replied, "Yeah I guess you're right." He then pulled Cagalli close to him for a hug before adding one other thing. "I'm pretty lucky to have met you."

Cagalli could only blush in shock at this declaration before the two pulled apart for a bit as Athrun then stated, "You and I can protect each other." Cagalli only nodded in response and then found herself leaning towards Athrun as he did the same to her until finally their lips met. Neither one of them knew that a certain pair of Autobots and a former Decepticon were watching this the whole time with smiles on their faces.

If it were any other time, and if it were not for the fact that Dreadwing was sending them a warning glare just in case, Arcee and Bumblebee probably would have gone over and teased the now official couple, but right now they had more pressing concerns to deal with. With that in mind, and with a few teasing remarks for Athrun and Cagalli ready for later, Arcee and Bumblebee headed for the _Omega II_'s armory with Dreadwing trailing behind after a moment later.

Once they had reached the armory, the two Autobots were the only ones to get any actual extra weapons while Dreadwing picked up his favorite type of explosives to use. As Bumblebee was loading his Energon Pistol, he saw Arcee once again pick up a Plasma Cannon and finally decided to ask a question that had been bugging him for some time now. **_"Uh Arcee, why do you always seem to go out with a Plasma Cannon,"_** the scout asked after he walked over to her.

Arcee froze for a moment, but figured that it was long overdue that she come out with the truth to the scout and simply told him, "Because it makes me think of you. Of how we used to always pal around with Tailgate, Cliff, and the others, of how you always kept fighting, and of how I know that you would never let me give up no matter what happens."

Bumblebee just stood there in shock for a minute, not sure what to say to that. He had no idea that Arcee really felt that strongly about this or him, and for once in his life he did not know what to say at all. Seeing this Arcee simply smiled and asked him, "Promise me something Bee? Promise that no matter what happens out there that…that you'll come back alive? That you'll come back…to me?"

Bumblebee could see how serious Arcee was about this and just simply wrapped her in a tight hug as he replied, **_"I promise Cee. Don't worry, you'll never get rid of me that easily."_**

Arcee nodded with a tearful smile as she returned the hug, and then the two parted and immediately headed up to their posts as they felt the ship get underway.

* * *

"So they want us to stop both GENESIS and the energon missiles while fighting at the same time," Dearka ranted as they approached the battlefield, clearly irritated by how their mission was set.

"Then why don't you give up," Miriallia retorted, having heard enough of the blonde's complaining.

"H-hey I didn't mean," Dearka tried to protest before Miriallia cut him off.

"Just kidding. Sorry," Miriallia assured him. She then made a small request of her own as she asked, "Be careful out there okay Dearka?"

Dearka stared at the girl for a moment before he smiled at her and said, "Thank you Miriallia, and don't worry. I'll do my best to make it back. Oh and after this is over do you…want to go to dinner with me?"

Miriallia smiled a bit at Dearka before stating, "It's a date, so you better not die."

Dearka just nodded while Nicol looked on from the Blitz's cockpit with a knowing smirk while he watched Mu and Murrue having a tender moment of their own as the blonde assured the_Archangel_'s captain that he would come back with victory in hand. A tender moment that made him immediately look away from to avoid feeling awkward, and a bit lonely as well.

Shortly after Murrue had returned to the bridge and everyone saw that the battle had already begun, they detected the presence of the _Dominion_, the _Armageddon_, and even the massive Decepticon warship the _Nemesis_. "Megatron is not holding anything back if he has brought his mother ship out into battle," Optimus declared from the launch bay on the _Omega II_.

"All vessels, deploy mobile suits now," Waltfeld ordered. In no time at all, the mobile suit forces, Dreadwing, and the Autobots had all deployed with Elita being the only one to remain on the ship at Optimus's insistence since she was the Autobots' only medical specialist with Ratchet still missing. With this, the final battle had truly begun.

* * *

From the GENESIS control room, Zala had just received the report that the weapon was nearly ready to fire on its next target and he was more than happy to have Le Creuset head out to join the battle as well in the new machine, the Providence. As the masked man was leaving, Zala give him one simple warning. "I'm only going to say this once Le Creuset. No more blunders. To make up for not destroying the _Eternal_ the least you can do is prevent them from attacking the PLANTs with it."

"Even if that means killing Athrun your Excellency," Le Creuset asked, needing to hear the man actually say it.

"Of course," Chairman Zala replied with almost no hesitation as he turned to face the monitors again.

"Very well then sir," Le Creuset saluted before he left. Megatron watched all of this from the _Nemesis_ as he prepared to head out himself with a smirk, knowing that he had finally done it and secured victory at least over the Coordinator fool. The war lord was so caught up in all of this he barely registered Knockout running around with a few vehicon drones like chickens who had their heads cut off.

"Hurry up and find him," Knockout half shouted as they ran about. "We can't let Lord Megatron know that we allowed that Autobot to escape and then attempt to warn his allies of the true power of GENESIS."

From where he was hiding, Ratchet thought to himself how if he were Jazz he would have commented that he would be none too happy if they did, but opted not to say anything in favor of keeping quiet. Seeing that the coast was clear, Ratchet then began to make a beeline for the exit so that he could finally escape. As soon as he had confirmed that the synthetic energon formula and the mixture for making the cyber matter formula were correctly completed, Ratchet had used a welding tool he secretly picked up to create a distraction and try to escape while Knockout and his little drone assistants were kept busy worrying about the fire suppressants that he had set off. Ever since, he had been avoiding the 'Cons and only managed to contact the Autobots that one time when he secretly high jacked a communication station before his comm. line was discovered.

Now Ratchet knew that the final battle had begun and he was not going to just hide out on the Decepticon warship waiting to be rescued when he knew he could do something to help. "Hang on Autobots. I'll be there as soon as I can," Ratchet whispered as he continued to run for the exit.

Just as he rounded the corner, a group of drones that were searching for him spotted him and opened fire as one shouted out, "Take him down quickly!"

Now Ratchet may be an old 'Bot, but he is never kidding when he said that he could still scrap with the best of them. This point was proven true as he avoided the lasers and quickly dispatched his attackers with his blades until only one was left standing. "Please don't hurt me," the drone begged pathetically.

"Don't worry, I'm an emergency vehicle," Ratchet replied as menacingly as he could before he plunged his sword right through the drone's spark chamber. Ratchet then looked around at his fallen opponents as he smirked to himself, "Still got it, just like I'm always telling them."

A faint glow from outside a nearby window caused Ratchet to turn his head and be greeted with the sight of GENESIS's beam being fired once again. The Autobot medic then quickened his pace as he ran silently saying, "By the AllSpark. Please tell me they're not firing at the Earth."

* * *

As the beam passed by them, Optimus felt he had to know where it was heading before they recommenced their full attack. "_Omega II_, what's GENESIS's projected target," he asked.

He got his answer only a moment later. "They fired on the Earth Forces Lunar Headquarters, and the reinforcements that the Earth Forces-Decepticons were expected to receive were caught in the line of fire. They're all gone," Elita One reported from the bridge. That was all that any of them needed to hear, and instantly, the forces of the Four Ships Alliance were on the attack once again. Their target: GENESIS.

The battle that came after was simply chaos in its truest form, as the Four Ships Alliance forces did everything they could to get through to GENESIS while also dealing with the Strike Daggers and other Earth Forces machines that were quick to come after them. Needless to say it was beyond simply irritating to Nicol and Dearka, and the two were quick to move in to dispatch the offending forces that could not see that they were trying to stop the Z.A.F.T. weapon as well. "This is nuts," Dearka growled.

"Here's something even crazier for you," Nicol commented as he blasted apart a pair of GuAIZs. "It's like the two Decepticon groups are more interested in us than each other."

A quick look from all those who sided with the Autobots saw that Nicol was correct. While occasionally Starscream's and Megatron's two forces would clash, it seemed that they tended to focus more on them than they did each other. This was especially true for Starscream's forces as they did not even seem like they were even trying to save the Earth Forces machines, and instead opted for fighting their own battles. "What's with those guys," Mu asked as the Perfect Strike blasted apart some Z.A.F.T. units and Strike Daggers with its Agni gun.

"I am not certain, but it would seem that we are seeing the beginning of Starscream revealing his true colors to the Earth Forces. Whatever the case, we cannot allow this madness to carry on any longer," Optimus proclaimed. The last Prime then raised the Star Saber high and unleashed a powerful energy burst from the blade that took out numerous Decepticon and Insecticon drones, and immediately led the charge to save both sides from themselves with Kira right beside him.

* * *

While all this was going on, Azrael was putting a call through to the Doolittle, which was answered by none other than Captain Sutherland. "Ah Mister Azrael," Sutherland began, but that was as far as he got before the blonde began shouting.

"Send out the energon reactor attack force! Their targets are the PLANTs! Destroy every last one of them! Smash those hourglasses into dust, and have those guys come back and clear you a path," Azrael ordered, immediately shocking everyone, and getting a rise out of Natarle.

"But that won't eliminate the threat to Earth. We have to stop that weapon" Natarle argued as Sutherland simply agreed and cut the line.

"Oh that's it. I've had just about enough of your nagging woman," Azrael shouted as he then pulled a gun on Natarle, shocking the entire crew with the sight of Azrael threatening the captain, and basically taking the ship hostage.

"What exactly are you planning on doing with that thing? Are you trying to take control of this ship," Natarle demanded.

"Taking control? I've been in charge of this ship from the beginning," Azrael stated heatedly. "Remember the only job you had was to follow my every command, yet you keep questioning every single order I give!"

"Message from the Doolittle," the CIC operator reported. "The peacemaker force reports that it is ready for takeoff ma'am."

"Then have them takeoff. Alert Raider, Forbidden, and Calamity," Azrael cut in. He then returned his attention to Natarle to continue his rant. "That thing will no longer be a threat after we destroy the PLANTs and finish this war! It's simple, even a single Coordinator is a threat to the Earth's survival and the reason we're here is to get rid of them all!"

As Azrael's words echoed in her head, Flay thought back to Kira, Le Creuset, and even Yzak, all of whom were Coordinators and yet she still considered them her friends. The irony of how she started out hating Coordinators only to have so many of them become friends to her was not lost on Flay, but all the same she could not believe that she could ever have been as horrible as Azrael was right now.

"Inflict maximum damage on the enemy, with minimum casualties to your own forces. That's how a war's supposed to be fought," Azrael finished with a sinister smile that sent shivers up Flay's spine while getting Natarle's already furious glare to become even angrier by the second. Just then, it was reported that the _Archangel_ and _Omega II _were closing in. "Well now that we understand each other it's time you to get to work, because I want that ship of traitors and that ship of rebels destroyed and today's the day we do it!"

Seeing that she had no other choice, Natarle simply resumed her seat and began giving out orders for her crew to carry out as they prepared to battle the _Archangel_ and the _Omega II_ once more, actions she had a feeling that the _Armageddon_ was not going to be following. As she did, Natarle silently thought, _I'm counting on you Murrue and _Omega II_._ "Fire!"

With that one word, the two Archangel class ships had unleashed their attacks on each other and the _Omega II_ had commenced its attack on the _Armageddon_ which was immediately destroyed in one blow from all the Autobot ship's weapons.

"Starscream what happened," Azrael demanded.

_"__Apologies Azrael,"_ Starscream's voice answered over the comm. _"But it would seem that we were mistaken in thinking that the ship would be able to function properly with simple Insecticon drones manning it despite the damage it took in the previous battle."_

Azrael simply shrugged and told Starscream to carry on as he was, which the sky commander stated that he was more than happy to do before ending the communication. "Oh well. I guess Starscream's big bad ship wasn't as tough as he thought," Azrael mocked aloud. What he did not know was how badly he would pay for these words.

* * *

At the sight of the approaching energon reactor missiles, Yzak and the Joule team was quick to move out and prepare to intercept, but they had to deal with the continuous annoyance that was the three mobile suits of the _Dominion_ getting in their way and there was also the fact they were not quite fast enough. Just when Yzak thought it was hopeless, the Freedom and the Justice burst onto the battlefield and shot down every energon reactor missile in sight. Yzak would have moved to try and help deal with the missiles but he was hit from behind by the Raider.

Clotho thought for sure he had the Duel finished as he charged his weapon when suddenly he too was hit from behind and on the side. Yzak quickly looked towards the sources of the shots and saw the Buster and the Blitz floating there with their weapons primed at the Raider's previous position. A moment later, Yzak saw a fleet of Insecticons were moving to destroy the PLANTs as well when suddenly they too were intercepted by Optimus and the Autobots. "We will engage the Decepticons. All other forces are to deal with GENESIS and the energon reactor missiles," Optimus shouted out.

As soon as the last Prime gave this order, a cluster of the missiles were instantly destroyed by Cagalli and the Strike Rogue. Suddenly, Cagalli saw that a squadron of Strike Daggers and the Combaticons had just shot down the Astray pilots, killing her three friends, and she charged at them in anger for this action, subconsciously tapping into the power of the SEED herself as she did. In no time at all, Cagalli had shot down each of the Strike Daggers responsible for her friends' deaths and the Aerialbots had swooped in to deal with the Combaticons.

This had led to both teams of combiners once again uniting to form their massive titan warrior forms and soon enough Bruticus and Superion were facing off head to head once more. It would have stayed this way if it were not for the fact that Devastator had blasted onto the battlefield and attacked Superion as well when the combined Aerialbots' back was turned, ultimately turning the battle of combiners into a battle of two against one. Of course this was nothing that Superion could not handle and he was more than eager to meet the challenge.

Seeing that Superion seemed to be handling himself, Cagalli moved to deal with the next set of energon reactor missiles when suddenly the Forbidden opened fire on her before she could have a chance to dodge. Just when Cagalli thought she was done for, the Duel appeared from out of nowhere and blocked the shot with its shield before returning fire.

While both Cagalli and Shani were both shocked at the actions that Yzak had just taken, Dearka was able to take advantage of the Forbidden pilot's moment of distraction and used the Buster's combined rifles in Anti-Armor Shotgun mode to pepper the Forbidden. Yzak then pulled out one of the Duel's beam sabers to charge in and attack. Shani was about to fire on Yzak only to be hit from behind by a missile barrage courtesy of Nicol and the Blitz. The green haired pilot then followed up with this by joining Yzak in his attack with his own beam saber and the two both put an end to the Forbidden once and for all together.

"Nice job…Nicol," Yzak called out over his comm.

"Hey what are friends for right? After all, us Z.A.F.T. reds gotta stick together Yzak," Nicol replied. Yzak nodded and looked to see the Wreckers taking on the Decimators once more while Jazz, Arcee, and Ironhide were fighting off both the Insecticons and the Seeker siblings at the same time.

"Are they going to be okay," Yzak found himself wondering aloud. His question was then answered by the fact that Wheeljack was able to duck under a blow from Barricade's nunchaku and land a powerful double slash from his sword immediately after.

"Yeah they'll be fine," Nicol and Dearka both replied.

Hound had overheard the three even while he blasted Blackout with all of his biggest guns, and found he could not help but smirk at the two when they said that. He then heard Bulkhead shout out as he slammed his wrecking ball into Junkheap, "Hey I'm getting a transmission from somewhere near the _Nemesis_. It's Ratchet!"

Hound quickly tapped his comm. device and called out, "Ratchet this is Hound. Do you read me?"

_"__Only just Hound,"_ Ratchet's voice replied. _"I'm nearing an exit from the _Nemesis_ and I would appreciate a little help in this escape endeavor. A Ground Bridge in particular would be ideal if it's not too much to ask."_

"Roger that Doc. Send me your coordinates and I'll transmit them to the _Omega II_." Hound then relayed the information to Elita One and then just waited for a moment before he finally heard if the sparkmate of the last Prime had their friend aboard.

_"__We've got him,"_ Elita shouted happily over the comm. a few seconds later. Before anyone could cheer in happiness at having Ratchet back where he belonged, a large explosion of blue and purple light lit up the skies of Space.

"That's where Optimus is," Bulkhead exclaimed as he locked fists with Junkheap.

"And soon enough, Lord Megatron will see to it that is where he will perish," Junkheap snarled as he hit Bulkhead hard with his claw arm in his back. Bulkhead was quick to recover from this and hoped that Optimus was okay, along with whoever was unfortunate enough to get caught in proximity to the two, never noticing a yellow blur racing off in that direction as he thought this.

* * *

What Bulkhead did not know was that Mu La Flaga was facing off against Rau Le Creuset close to where Optimus and Megatron were clashing against one and other with their two powerful blades fully charged with their respective energies. Naturally, Mu had enough sense to avoid the battle between the leaders of the two factions, but he was not going to let anything else stop him from bringing down the masked madman once and for all this time. "Why bother continuing Prime," Megatron snarled as his Dark Star Saber collided against Optimus's Star Saber. "Humans don't deserve to live."

"They deserve to live just as much as we do and they deserve to choose for themselves," Optimus retorted as he pushed Megatron's sword back and slammed a hard fist into Megatron's face.

"Then you will die with them," Megatron declared as he pushed Optimus a fair distance away before priming his Fusion Cannon. "Join them in extinction!"

Optimus quickly armed his Ion Blaster as he brought the Star Saber into a defensive position when Megatron fired. The blast ultimately knocked the mighty sword of Prima from Optimus's hand, but it was not enough to knock Optimus down for long and he instantly opened fire on Megatron with his Ion Blaster, earning several direct hits on the war lord of the Decepticons.

"Is this what you were hoping for you bastard," Mu shouted at Le Creuset as he used the Perfect Strike's shield to block the Providence's shots.

"You shouldn't blame me," Le Creuset retorted as he unleashed the DRAGOONs on Mu, destroying the Perfect Strike's rifle and damaging the Agni gun. "This is mankind's dream, mankind's desire, mankind's destiny! To be the strongest, to go the farthest, to climb the highest, to compete, to envy, to hate each other, and devour one and other!"

"You're pathetic," Mu shouted as he swung the anti-ship sword at the Providence. "I won't let your twisted logic make things worse."

"But you're too late Mu. You see I am the product of all this, and that's how I know, and that is why I will ensure that Lord Megatron's plans for humanity will succeed!" The Providence then fired its DRAGOONs once more as the masked man finished his tirade. "I know that humanity will either be swallowed by the darkness it's created, or face their end at the darkness that it has brought onto itself!"

Mu could do nothing to keep from getting hit from all directions at once and soon enough the Perfect Strike had suffered severe damage with nothing but the bare minimum of its backpack, its legs, one arm, and its shield left. With no other option, Mu had no choice but to let Le Creuset move on to his next target as he struggled to return to the _Archangel_.

* * *

Soon enough, the problem of the Earth Forces had been all but dealt with save for the Raider which was still flying about trying to fight a battle that was already lost. Murrue then called out to the _Archangel_ and _Omega II_'s forces "Resupply the machines that need it. We and the _Omega II_ will deal with the _Dominion_. Your target is GENESIS!"

Athrun and Cagalli both nodded in reply at this and were soon blasting off towards GENESIS with Dreadwing right on their tails. When he noticed that Kira was not following them, Athrun called out, "Kira what're you doing?"

"I'm going to go help Optimus," Kira replied. "Le Creuset was last seen over in that direction and I want to make sure that he doesn't try to interfere in Optimus's battle."

"Okay Kira. Be careful," Athrun warned, and then the two parted ways, passing Mu as he contacted the _Archangel_ to request for an emergency landing and a medical crew along the way. Athrun, Cagalli, and Dreadwing were about at GENESIS when they were cut off by _both_ Bruticus and Devastator, much to their surprise.

"Little mobile suits and traitor get past Bruticus and Devastator first, and no one passes Bruticus alone," Bruticus mocked. He then prepared to fire his flame thrower, which somehow still worked in Space; Athrun figured it was because the flames were energon fueled. Just before he could fire though, both Decepticons were hit by a blast from each of Superion's arm cannons. A moment later, all the Autobots that were in the field except for Optimus and surprisingly Bumblebee were engaged in battle with all the Decepticon forces as a whole.

"We'll take care of these party crashers Dreadwing. You just get Athrun and Cagalli to GENESIS," Jazz called out as he blasted at both Sharpshot and Thundercracker.

"Understood Jazz," Dreadwing replied. He then transformed to his jet mode and led the Strike Rogue and the Justice to their target.

As Arcee opened fire on both Slipstream and Airachnid, she asked aloud, "Someone want to tell me when Starscream started showing whose side he was really on?"

"I think it was around the time he destroyed the Doolittle and then stopped to gloat," Ironhide replied as he and Hound opened fire on Skywarp, Breakdown, and Junkheap. Everyone had to agree with this, because really, when else would that have happened?

* * *

Azrael could only stare in utter shock as he saw all of the Earth Forces fleet become whipped out by the enemy, whether it be Z.A.F.T. and the Four Ships Alliance, or even the enemy Decepticons. Seeing this, he began to wonder why their allied Decepticon forces were not doing anything only to discover something he had never expected.

_"__Oh Director Azrael,"_ Starscream called in a sing-song voice. _"I feel I must thank you."_

"For what," Azrael demanded.

_"__For making my job so easy,"_ Starscream replied with a cackle._ "We were never truly allies; I was acting as a double agent to disable your forces so that Lord Megatron would be able to decimate you all that much more easily. Oh how you played the part of the puppet who thought he was the puppeteer so brilliantly it almost makes me sad that your end must come."_

Azrael was now seething with anger as Starscream's mad laugh continued to echo through the _Dominion_'s comm. system. He tried desperately to deny this truth, but the blonde was proven wrong when he witnessed Starscream and the Combaticons destroy the Doolittle and Captain Sutherland along with it. "Damn you Starscream. Damn you to hell!" Before Azrael could continue cursing out Starscream, he noticed one of the readouts on the _Archangel_'s status. "It stopped! Fire! Hurry and destroy that thing now! Target the Lohengrin!"

The operator could do nothing more than simply carry out the orders the now clearly insane man had given when a voice caused them all to pause. "No stop it! _Archangel_ get out of there!"

Everyone turned to see that Flay was attempting to warn the _Archangel_ of the impending attack. "You stupid little bitch, what's wrong with you," Azrael demanded as he grabbed Flay and hit her across her face. He then pulled out his gun and attempted to shoot Flay, but he found his shot immediately deflected when Natarle pushed his gun hand aside when she tackled him.

"What do you think you're doing," Natarle demanded, but she was cut off from ranting further as Azrael grabbed her by the throat. Natarle then decided that now was the time. "All hands abandon ship! Flay, time to begin Alpha to Omega!"

Flay nodded immediately in understanding of what Badgiruel was telling her to do and quickly led everyone off of the bridge, hearing only a gunshot that she could only assume had hit Natarle a few seconds later. A moment after, all the exits and entrances to the bridge were sealed off, but Flay took little notice of this as she led the crew to the hangar bay. Before anyone could board a shuttle, Flay called out, "No don't board the shuttles!"

Everyone stopped to look at her like she was crazy. The question of how else were they supposed to abandon ship was running through all their minds when Flay suddenly pulled out an Autobot comm. link device that Natarle had thrown to her when she had tackled Azrael. "_Omega II_ do you read me," Flay called out. "The _Dominion_'s crew is now all present in the hangar bay aside from Commander Badgiruel and Azrael. Open the Ground Bridge now!"

_"__You've got it red,"_ Elita replied. A few seconds later, the familiar green vortex had opened up and Flay was instantly telling everyone to get through it. Once they had all run through they found themselves in the _Omega II_'s Ground Bridge bay.

**"****Greetings ****_Dominion_**** crew and Flay Allster. Welcome aboard the ****_Omega II_****,"** a mechanical voice then called out.

"Who's there," Flay asked, worriedly.

**"****I am Teletran One. An artificial intelligence aide that was recently repurposed to act as the ****_Omega II_****'s main computer."**

Flay then turned to see Elita standing at the controls for the Ground Bridge and quickly cried out. "Hurry, Commander Badgiruel is still on the bridge and she might be hurt!"

"No not yet," Elita said.

**"****Alert. ****_Dominion_**** positron cannon is preparing to fire on the ****_Archangel_****,"** Teletran One then announced. Everyone instantly froze in shock at what that could only mean.

* * *

The _Archangel_ had just received word from Ratchet that the _Dominion_ crew had all arrived on the _Omega II_ with the exception of Natarle when the tell tale signs of the enemy ship's Lohengrin was powering up to fire came through, followed by the positron beam itself merely seconds later. "Evade," Murrue quickly shouted.

"It's too late. We can't," Newmann replied. Everything seemed to move in slow motion for everyone, including the Autobots who were just close enough to see the beam heading straight for the_Archangel_'s bridge. Just before it hit, something stopped the beam a short ways ahead of the bridge. Upon closer inspection, everyone could see, much to Murrue's and Wheeljack's horror, that the Perfect Strike had intercepted the blast with its shield.

As his alarms sounded around him and his suit began to break apart, Mu La Flaga turned to look towards the bridge and his wingman Wheeljack as he shouted out proudly, "Didn't I tell you I could make the impossible possible?!" As soon as he said that, the Perfect Strike was completely engulfed by the blast, leaving only a few damaged parts and the remains of Mu's space suit where it previously was.

Everyone was completely shocked by what had just happened, and Wheeljack let out a feral, angered roar as he slashed his blades at Barricade with all his might, blocking every blow that the one-eyed Decimator threw at him and barely giving him any time to retaliate. Soon after, Wheeljack had sliced off one of Barricade's arms and a leg before he slammed an open palm onto the Decimator and then just floated there.

"What's the matter Wheeljack? Not mech enough to finish it," Barricade taunted.

"Wait for it," Wheeljack growled as he tapped his side where he normally kept a grenade, only to reveal that there was no grenade there. Barricade immediately looked down and saw that Wheeljack's grenade had been planted on his chest from the earlier palm strike and it was active.

"Oh scrap," Barricade stated as he then exploded into pieces, and this time there was nothing left of him to patch up. Wheeljack simply huffed and let himself remain there for another moment as he mourned the loss of his human friend and heard said friend's girlfriend cry out the pilot's name in anguish.

A few seconds later, the _Archangel_ readied its own Lohengrin to fire on the _Dominion_, and it was not just to stop an enemy this time. This time it was to avenge a fallen comrade, friend, and loved one.

* * *

Azrael looked on in horrified shock at what had just happened barely able to comprehend what had just happened. He could barely even register that it was possible for him not to win, because he always won, but a tired groan indicated that someone had to point out otherwise.

"It looks like you lose," a seriously injured and bloodied Natarle groaned with a proud smirk that Azrael had been so brilliantly foiled at every turn.

Azrael was not about to let the woman mock him like this and immediately grabbed her to throw her against the captain's chair before he pulled out his gun for a killing shot. Before he could even start to squeeze the trigger though, the sound of a Ground Bridge opening was heard, followed by a shot from a different direction. Natarle looked up to see that Azrael had been shot by an energon weapon, and then immediately turned as quickly as she could to see Flay standing in front of a Ground Bridge portal with a smoking energon pistol. "That was for all the people you've murdered and all my friends that you've either killed or forced to suffer bastard," the red head shouted as she quickly grabbed Natarle and raced back through the Ground Bridge which closed a second later.

Once she was on the _Omega II_, Natarle could see Elita rushing to give what medical attention she could, which was a considerable deal more than what Ratchet could have been able to give since she studied more about human medical treatment than the Autobot chief medical officer. Once she knew that she just might make it, Natarle silently called out, "Now Murrue Ramius…"

* * *

"Fire," Murrue shouted, unknowingly saying so at the same time that Badgiruel had said it, and as soon as she had, the person controlling the firing controls for the Lohengrin was all too happy to do so. A moment later, the _Dominion_ and its sole remaining passenger was destroyed, ending the monster that was Murruta Azrael.

_"_Omega II_ to _Archangel_,"_ Ratchet then called out over the comm. _"We have the entire Dominion crew aboard save for Murruta Azrael. The only one with any serious injury was Natarle Badgiruel, but Elita One is taking care of her now."_

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief at this news, glad that the people on the dark ship were safe, especially in the case of Natarle and Flay. Any further celebration was quickly cut off for two reasons. One was the fact they were still in the middle of a battle and their forces were still fighting. Dearka and Nicol had brought Yzak and the Duel aboard so that the silver haired man could resupply his suit with some of the Strike's equipment along with the other two resupplying their own machines. The silver haired man was finally convinced by his friends that what Z.A.F.T. had been doing up until now was wrong and he was now more than ready to correct his mistake of fighting for the wrong reasons. At the same time, the Autobots were giving it everything they had to keep the entire Decepticon army from going after Dreadwing, Athrun, and Cagalli with their main focus being the Decepticon commanders.

The other fact that caused them to cut any celebrations they were planning for the safe return of Natarle, Flay, and the other members of the _Dominion_ crew was a sudden cry of shock and anguish from Ratchet.

"Ratchet what's wrong," Miriallia asked.

Ratchet remained silent for a moment, not answering, until a certain Autobot then demanded something, fear and worry in her tone. "Ratchet did something happen to Bumblebee," Arcee asked from where she was taking cover. Ratchet still did not respond. "Ratchet I am warning you; don't you dare say what I think you're about to say."

Sadly, Ratchet could not heed that warning. _"Bumblebee's signal was last pinpointed near Optimus's position until…I lost it completely."_

Everyone knew what Ratchet losing Bumblebee's signal meant, but no one wanted to think about it as they all heard Arcee start to break down and cry herself just as Murrue had resumed doing on the _Archangel_ over Mu's death. It still left everyone wondering, what had happened to the Autobot scout?

* * *

A few moments before Ratchet had lost Bumblebee's signal, Optimus was battling it out against Megatron with his Battle Axe clashing against Megatron's Dark Star Saber, since the last Prime had been thus far unable to make any move to retrieve his own sword. Needless to say, it was no real surprise that Optimus's trusted weapon was no match for Megatron's dark replica of the legendary weapon of the first Prime. Optimus's battle was not made easier when Le Creuset suddenly appeared on the battlefield and began assaulting Optimus as well with his own attacks.

Fearing that he may soon be overrun by the two, Optimus began to brace himself and switched his free hand into his arm blade in an attempt to show he was not going down without a fight. This was not entirely necessary as soon after, Le Creuset was bombarded by a missile barrage courtesy of Kira and the Freedom which was still docked with its METEOR. With Kira joining the battle in order to match Le Creuset, Optimus was now freed up to fight Megatron one on one, but it was not as much help as he had hoped, as Megatron was soon able to disarm Optimus once more by destroying the arm sword's blade and knocking Optimus's Axe away.

Megatron then had Optimus pinned right where he wanted him as he pulled out a Riot Cannon that he had brought with him, thinking that it would finish the job. Optimus merely stared down the gun's barrel and Megatron's devilish, purple eyes as he proclaimed, "Even if you destroy me Megatron, others will rise to defeat your tyranny."

"Then I'll just have to destroy you all," Megatron stated. His cannon began charging up when a buzz caught his attention. A moment later, a yellow blur had slammed into Megatron knocking him off of Optimus, but before Optimus could move to help, Megatron fired the only shot that the Riot Cannon had and hit Optimus's rescuer, sending him crashing into the last Prime.

Optimus and Kira both looked to see that Optimus's rescuer had managed to retrieve the Star Saber and was attempting to bring it to Optimus, but they both gasped in shock at the sight of said rescuer. "Bumblebee," Optimus called out in horror as he saw the brave scout lying on the ground with a large hole in his chest.

Before Optimus could reach the scout, Le Creuset had sent his DRAGOONs after the Bumblebee, which effectively knocked him into one of the discarded GENESIS mirrors that seemed to still be resonating with a pool of cyber matter. As both Kira and Optimus watched this in horror, they saw Bumblebee's eyes flicker for a moment until they finally went dark once again just as he hit the residual cyber matter. Kira was now beyond upset; he was pissed as he cried out for his best Autobot friend, "BUMBLEBEE!"

Megatron simply slammed the Riot Cannon aside as he snarled, "What a waste of energon."

"I couldn't agree more," Le Creuset stated as he moved to float alongside Megatron. "But at least we won't be seeing him again.

Hearing these words, Optimus felt his own anger growing as he raised his head and told Megatron, "Even after the battle for the _Ark_, I must be reminded of the truth of your words that I had once learned after eons of conflict Megatron."

"And what might that be Prime," Megatron requested as he raised the Dark Star Saber and brought it down to slash Optimus in half. Much to his shock though, Optimus was able to stop his attack by grabbing his arm as he brought the blade down.

As Optimus began to rise to his feet, he answered Megatron's question saying, "This universe, no matter how vast, will never be big enough for you and I to coexist!" With that said, Optimus slammed his right fist into Megatron in a powerful uppercut that sent his former brother flying. After Megatron had hit the ground, he was only able to avoid Optimus's follow up attack with the Star Saber by the skin of his teeth.

Le Creuset was not about to let Optimus destroy Megatron like this, and he began to move in to assist the war lord. Before he could fire though, he was immediately hit hard by the Freedom, which had just ejected from the METEOR. "Your fight's with me Le Creuset," Kira shouted.

Optimus nodded in thanks to this as he then turned his attention back to Megatron and stated, "Just as it is now Kira and Rau Le Creuset, it is you and me now Megatron."

"Oh Optimus, don't you see," Megatron replied. "It has always been you and I. It has been from the beginning and it shall be right to the end."

"The same can be said of us Kira Yamato; after all we are both the product of humanity's selfish desires," Le Creuset stated as the Providence readied its beam saber.

Optimus and Kira both nodded to each other one last time before they declared together, "At the end of this battle, one shall stand, and one shall fall."

"Then by all means Optimus Prime/Kira Yamato. Come, let us end this once and for all," the two madmen shouted together. With these simple words, the four each charged at each other, both sides determined to end this battle and their wars once and for all.

* * *

**_AN: Okay I know you guys all want to kill me for what I just did to Bumblebee, but I should remind you that Bee has escaped death multiple times in the Transformers series so do go thinking I won't stay true to that about his character. That being said, I know a lot of you will be mad at me for ending this chapter on a cliffhanger, but I wanted this final battle to be split into two chapters mostly because that seemed like the best way to do it. And honestly how much more epic can you get than right there, what with a repeat of Transformers history that is essentially one of the final scenes of Transformers: Fall of Cybertron (Sorry for the spoiler on that for those of you who haven't played the game) and then Kira and Optimus give that epic, iconic line they gave at the exact same time at the end and...[hit hard in the head to cut off further ranting]_**

**_Cagalli: CHILL OUT YOU NUT CASE BEFORE YOU SCARE THEM WITH YOUR FAN BOY RANT! You're just doing all you can to keep yourself from telling them how-_**

**_AN: SPOILER! [hits a control that triggers an alarm] Huh? [looks at control] Uh oh._**

**_Cagalli: What? What'd you just do?_**

**_AN: Uh I might've hit the control that unleashes every bit of spoiler prevention that this thing has on it which may cause the AN studio to basically get destroyed._**

**_Cagalli: WHAT?!_**

**_AN: Hey don't look at me! Blame tech support they're the ones who designed this thing! Ahem, now before Cagalli and I have to run for our lives, I must say that this time the preview is not much, and since my usual saying before the end would not seem all that appropriate well..._**

**_All I can say is a paraphrase of one of Optimus's iconic quotes which I was just written. At the end of this battle, one shall stand, one shall fall, and one shall rise again. Next time on Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Prime…_****Chapter 28: The End of the Nightmare****_. End these tragedies together Gundam and Optimus!_**

**_Cagalli: If you're done we have to-[looks to see I'm already gone]_**

**_AN: Every man for himself!_**

**_Cagalli: [looks to see everything that she ever dealt with from nearly giving a spoiler away and then some heading towards her] Oh come on!_**

**_AN: Well, can we get someone from tech support in here to explain why they thought it was a good idea to essentially put in an AN Section Studio self destruct option on the Spoiler Prevention Control please? _****_Well until next time, which I will be sure to make very soon..._**

**_Please read and review, and I'll see you when the Bloody Valentine War comes to an end!_**


	28. 28: The End of the Nightmare

_**AN: And now, the conclusion to the final battle is here! I will not take long and keep you from reading this chapter that concludes such a great struggle for peace and freedom and so I shall simply provide the disclaimer and allow you to continue you on with the chapter.**_

_**I do not own anything from any of the Gundam or Transformers franchises or any other franchise mentioned in this story.**_

* * *

**Chapter 28: The End of the Nightmare**

Though none of them could see it, everyone knew that the Autobots were all falling into despair as Bumblebee's lifeless body continued to sink into the residual cyber matter that was in one of the discarded GENESIS focusing mirrors. The young scout was by far the bravest and most hopeful of all the Autobots, never once giving up no matter what, and to see or even hear of such a valiant and brave soldier falling in battle like this was enough to cause anyone to lose hope for a moment.

This fact held true for all of the Autobots, but soon enough that despair had turned to anger as they faced their life-long Decepticon foes once again, and then engaged them in battle even more furiously and determined than they ever were before. All of them felt that they owed much to Bumblebee for what he had done and that the scout was a part of their family, so they intended to make those who followed the one who had ended the scout suffer as much as they possibly could. This fact was made much easier considering how things had begun to turn on the humans' side of the battle.

Despite the fact that the Earth Forces were now all but defeated, the battle continued to rage on, as the _Eternal_ and the _Kusanagi_ did everything they could to hold back the Z.A.F.T. forces while the Autobots fought off the Decepticons. Amidst this chaos, Lacus continued to call out, "I demand that Z.A.F.T. cease firing GENESIS immediately. We've experience the pain and sorrow of nuclear and energon reactor attacks, yet we are inflicting the same suffering on them now. Will anything be made right if we fire it, or if more innocent men, women, and children keep losing their lives? Is this justice? Don't you realize yet what these attacks on each other are giving birth to? Do we want even more sacrifices?"

"Ugh will somebody shut her up already," Junkheap shouted as he hurled a large, bladed boomerang weapon at the _Eternal_. The spinning weapon was quickly intercepted by Hound as he fired off a few rounds from a Scrapmaker gun which he then turned on Junkheap.

"That's no way to treat or speak to a lady 'Con," Hound snarled as he spat out his cigar, right into Junkheap's face. The minute the device hit the 'Con's face though, it started beeping and the next thing that happened was Junkheap's entire helm exploding. Hound was quick to finish off the rest of Junkheap just for good measure while he scrapped a few vehicons as well.

"You'll pay for that Wrecker," Blackout shouted as he prepared to launch his EMP attack against Hound and the Autobots. Just as he was about to fire, Bulkhead slammed his wrecking ball into Blackout's side and fired his blaster right into Blackout's chest at pointblank range, seriously injuring the aerial Decimator.

"You've gotta get past me first pal," Bulkhead snarled, but just as he was charging, Breakdown had slammed his hammer into Bulkhead to knock the green Autobot off balance.

"Don't think I'll let you forget me Bulkhead. We've still got a score to settle," Breakdown snarled. Bulkhead was quick to return the glare and soon enough he and his old rival were charging at each other again, while Ironhide moved in to take on Blackout in Bulkhead's place.

Jazz and Wheeljack were doing their best to cover Arcee, who had lost any resolve she had at the news of Bumblebee's demise, but they were vastly outnumbered by the remaining Decepticon forces and Superion could not do much to help since he was too busy dealing with Bruticus and Devastator at the same time. This meant that Jazz and Wheeljack had to deal with the entire Seeker sibling family, Airachnid, and the Insecticon hive leaders at the same time while the other Autobots were occupied in other matters and Arcee was trying to get a hold of herself. "Come on 'Cee we can't do this without you," Jazz shouted.

"Well I'd hate to say it Jazz, but it looks like we'll have to it," Wheeljack argued. "She's too out of it to keep fighting. We should contact the _Omega II_ and have them bring her aboard before…"

"No," Arcee croaked, getting both of their attentions. "I'm not going to sit back and cry anymore. Bumblebee would never forgive me if forgot his words from long ago again. I won't look back, and just keep driving!" With that said, Arcee blasted onto the battlefield once again firing everything she had at anyone unfortunate enough to get in her way.

Seeing that Arcee was back to herself, Jazz and Wheeljack exchanged a smirk and charged in right behind her. Arcee did not get far in her charge though, as soon enough she was caught in Airachnid's web shots. The spider like 'Con then leaped at Arcee to try and drive one of her talons into her when she was blasted back by a shot from a TechVolt that also freed Arcee. Arcee looked to see that Elita was the one who had fired the shot and simply gave a mock salute in thanks.

"Hey Elita, is it okay for you to be out here right now," Jazz asked as he blasted some Insecticons back with his blasters.

"Don't worry," Elita reassured him as she downed multiple enemies with her TechVolt. "Ratchet's got things covered on the _Omega II_ and Natarle should be able to last until we can get her better treatment on the _Archangel_ after the battle's over."

Jazz nodded in acceptance of that and then joined her in charging into battle again. As they did, Elita silently prayed, _Please be safe Optimus._

* * *

As the main battle raged on, Optimus and Megatron continued to trade blows, each matching the other and vice versa, countering and blocking any attack that the other threw at them. Optimus would throw a downward vertical slash at Megatron, which Megatron then parried before striking back with a horizontal slash at Optimus's chest which Optimus barely avoided. A moment later, their blades locked once again, and the two were pushing hard against each other in an attempt to overpower the other. Finally, Optimus won out as he forced down Megatron's blade, giving him an opportunity to slam his fist into Megatron's face. Optimus then quickly followed up with a diagonal slash from the Star Saber across Megatron's chest before slamming a hard kick to send him flying into the remains of a destroyed ship.

As Megatron tried to rise, Optimus was immediately on top of him and grabbing Megatron by the back of his neck. Optimus then proceeded to slam Megatron's face against the ground multiple times over before spinning the Star Saber into a reverse grip, intending to stab Megatron's spark through his back. Just before he could strike though, Megatron slammed an elbow strike into Optimus's chest which he immediately followed up with a hard left jab and a low level blast from his fusion cannon. It was not enough to finish Optimus, but it was enough to drive Optimus off of him and allow him to rise before charging once more with the Dark Star Saber, eventually clashing the blade against Optimus's Star Saber once more. "Not bad for a librarian," Megatron admitted as he and Optimus pushed against each other. "Perhaps you should have spent more time in the gladiatorial arena."

"And perhaps you should have spent more time in the library," Optimus retorted as he forced Megatron back once more and followed up with a sword barrage that eventually knocked the Dark Star Saber out of Megatron's hands.

As they watched this go on from the corner of their eyes, Kira and Le Creuset also matched each other blow for blow as Kira used every long range weapon the Freedom had to destroy the DRAGOONs that Le Creuset sent his way, which was not easy considering how many of the little things there were and how fast they moved. "You're nothing but an irritant. A pest," Le Creuset shouted at Kira. "You're something that shouldn't have been allowed to exist boy! If people learned of your existence, they would want to be just as you are! They would want to become like you, and that's the reason why your existence cannot be allowed!"

"That's garbage," Kira retorted as he whipped out the Freedom's beam sabers to block every beam that the DRAGOONs were firing on him while he used the rail cannons to destroy them where he could. "Even if that's true, I'm not defined by my abilities alone!"

"Who's going to believe that line? Will they understand that," Le Creuset demanded as he fired another barrage from the Providence's gun and from his remaining DRAGOONs. "Of course they won't, nobody will!"

Kira simply snarled at the madman, only making a small notice of how far their battle had gone from Optimus and Megatron's and also from where Bumblebee had fallen, never noticing how the cyber matter seemed to begin stirring all of a sudden in the spot where the scout had fallen in.

* * *

Soon enough the _Eternal_ and the _Kusanagi_ were within firing range of GENESIS, and prepared to attack. "Are we sure this will work Andy," Aisha asked from her position on the _Eternal_'s bridge.

"We have to at least try Aisha," Waltfeld replied. "After all even Phase Shift isn't invincible."

"Lohengrin, fire," Kisaka shouted as the _Kusanagi_ fired said cannon along with the _Eternal_'s main cannon. Both the shots hit their marks but did not seem to make even the slightest scratch on the weapon.

"Oh for…we're in real trouble now," Waltfeld commented. Just then the ship shook against an explosion. Everyone looked to see that the Raider had just burst onto the battlefield, but was now fighting like a madman with no sense of direction or real purpose other than to lash out at everything in sight.

"We've got him," Nicol shouted as he, Dearka, and Yzak fired everything they had at the Raider. Their efforts did not hold for long as Dearka was soon hit hard by the Raider and found himself unable to properly handle the Buster's rifles while Yzak lost his own rifle. It was not long after that the Blitz blasted off behind some debris and disappeared from sight completely.

Seeing what his friend was trying to do through the enemy's insane firing pattern, Yzak quickly turned to Dearka as he brought the Duel close to the Buster and shouted, "On my signal, give me your weapon."

Dearka nodded in reply and waited for said signal. The Raider then charged at the two mobile suits still firing and its pilot cackling like a complete lunatic when suddenly the machine was hit from the side. A second later, the Blitz had deactivated its mirage colloid and stabbed its beam saber into the Raider's arm.

"Now Dearka," Yzak shouted, and soon enough the Duel was wielding the Buster's long range sniper rifle and firing it directly at the Raider's head. "Now quick, grab one of the Duel's beam sabers and finish him," Yzak then told Dearka.

Dearka did not have to be told twice as he quickly pulled out one of the Duel's beam sabers and charged right at the Raider, landing a powerful slash right through the machine's torso and the pilot's cockpit. It was only a few seconds later that the Raider finally blew and the three simply stood there in victory. "Now that's the power of the real Joule team," Yzak smirked with pride.

"Since when were we ever called the Joule team," Nicol asked with a small chuckle.

"I don't know I kinda like it. It has a way better ring to it than Le Creuset or Zala team," Dearka commented with a smile. "Maybe we should make this a permanent thing."

"How about you guys talk about it after this battle is over," Ironhide cut in as he blasted Breakdown away. The three then nodded to each other in agreement and immediately charged in to help bring down Breakdown.

"Hey what are Athrun and Dreadwing doing anyway," Dearka asked. "Weren't they going to try and break through Jachin Due to bring down GENESIS from there or something?"

"That's what I heard from Cagalli when they last checked in," Nicol replied. "I just hope they're okay."

What they did not realize was that Slipstream had heard what they had said and immediately ordered Thundercracker and Skywarp to follow her to somewhere that no one could quite hear. While the departure of three of the Seekers gave the Autobots something of an edge, it was not by much, and it was more worrying as to where the Seeker siblings were going than it was relieving that they had left.

A moment later though, the _Archangel_ had arrived on the scene with the _Omega II_ by its side and Ratchet was more than happy to lay down a barrage from the ship with the _Archangel_ doing the same on the still offending ships. His main target though was the _Nemesis_ and he was hitting it with everything he had. Now if one were to ask later if this was in retaliation for what the 'Cons did to him, Ratchet would deny this and simply say that he was targeting the most serious threat at the time, but no one could help but wonder if that was really the case.

* * *

"Those ships are run by a little girl, some Naturals, and a single Autobot. Why can't you destroy them," Chairman Zala demanded from his command chair in Jachin Due. He then saw that the third mirror was now in position and then ordered, "Hurry and commence target input. North America continent east coast."

"But sir," one of Zala's aides tried to protest. "We've already won the battle, and if we fire we'll wipe out half the life on Earth and there's no telling what the cyber matter will do to the planet afterwards. Lord Megatron himself stated that such a thing could have serious consequences. There have already been enough sacrifices."

Any further protest the man had was quickly silenced by a gunshot that was aimed at him. Everyone looked to see that Chairman Patrick Zala himself had fired on one of his own men. Zala then turned to face forward once again as he growled, "They're right there. Our enemies are still out there! Why would you even suggest that we not fire it? We must fire it again before they have a chance to retaliate! The enemy must be annihilated! Why won't you all understand that?"

Seeing that no one was doing anything at all, Zala rose from his chair and began punching in commands for GENESIS himself. "Excellency, our forces are still in the line of fire," one of the other commanders warned Zala when he saw what the chairman was doing.

"All of our soldiers are fighting for one thing. Victory! I'm sure they're prepared to pay the cost," Zala argued angrily.

"You bastard," the man that Zala had just shot groaned out. When Zala turned to face him though, he himself was shot in the chest by the injured man. Muttered shock and surprise had swept throughout the control room at the sight of this as the doors opened to reveal Athrun, Cagalli, and Dreadwing who had all managed to fight their way into Jachin Due's control room just after Patrick Zala had been shot, much to Athrun's horror.

The shocked mutterings quickly turned to panic cries of fear as they all began to flee the control room with the three recent arrivals being the only exceptions. Athrun and Cagalli slowly approached the former's father while Dreadwing simply stood where he was with his cannon armed and his head bowed, until eventually Athrun was right next to Patrick Zala. "Father," Athrun called weakly.

Patrick Zala turned to face Athrun, but he was so weak he could barely tell who Athrun was and as such he weakly ordered, "Fire…GENESIS. We must…make…the world…ours."

Having said those final words, Chairman Patrick Zala coughed up a small amount of blood before he died, leaving a grief stricken son who could not believe that his father remained so horrible right to the end. Suddenly an alarm sounded that drove all three's attention to the nearest computer, seeing a countdown running on the monitor. Athrun worked quickly to do what he could to stop the countdown when he realized what it was for as he explained, "They've activated a self-destruct sequence. When Jachin blows up it'll trigger GENESIS!"

Cagalli and Dreadwing both gasped in shock as Athrun continued to try and disengage the self-destruct sequence. Eventually though Athrun slammed a fist on the console as he realized that the process was already too far along to be stopped from there. Seeing this, the three quickly raced back to the Strike Rogue and the Justice and moved as fast as they could to evacuate Jachin Due.

"Athrun what do we do now," Cagalli asked once they were clear of the base.

Athrun lowered his head before he announced, "There's only one thing we can do. I'll blow up the Justice and create an energon fueled explosion to destroy GENESIS from the inside."

Cagalli and Dreadwing both looked at Athrun in horror as the red mobile suit blasted off towards GENESIS. They both nodded to each other and immediately took off after Athrun, none of them noticing that they had passed by Kira and Le Creuset's continuing battle as they did.

* * *

After seeing the three pass by them, Le Creuset began laughing in realization of what was happening. "No matter what happens now the Decepticons have won," Le Creuset exclaimed in victory. "When Jachin self-destructs GENESIS will fire. There's no way the process can be stopped. Earth will burn, the ensuing cries of the victims will trigger battle anew, and the new Cybertron will be born!"

"It can't. I won't allow it," Kira protested. He then charged the Freedom right at Le Creuset as it armed itself with a double blade beam saber just as the Providence destroyed his beam rifle. The ensuing battle between the two was more than simply intense; it was truly a fight to the bitter end. Kira slashed the Providence with both ends of his sword while Le Creuset was only able to block one blow while the other caused his mobile suit to lose its gun. The two were soon engaged in a full on sword battle that was quickly matching that of Optimus and Megatron's.

Kira was able to deflect a blow from Le Creuset that was aimed at his cockpit before he slashed at the Providence's arm, severing it from the mobile suit. Le Creuset only snarled at this and then simply charged in slashing wildly at the Freedom so fast that Kira was having a hard time keeping up. Eventually this led to him losing one of the Freedom's arms as well and its head. This did not stop Kira though as he began to just ignore Rau Le Creuset's continuing rant in favor of denying every word that the masked man was spouting right to the bitter end.

Seeing that he had a chance, Kira charged the Freedom at its top speed towards a feebly defending Providence, channeling a bit of Optimus as he shouted, "This world is still worth protecting, and more importantly everyone deserves the right to choose for themselves, because freedom is the right of all sentient beings!"

At that point, Rau Le Creuset cringed in disbelief because he did not see Kira and the Freedom charging at him, he actually saw a faint bit of Mu La Flaga and everyone else that had fallen at his hands charging him. More than that, he could have sworn that he saw what could easily be described as a human version of Optimus Prime coming at him with everything he had, and the masked man began to wonder if it was possible that Kira had become more than the ultimate Coordinator. Was it really possible that somehow Kira had become the Earth's first and the universe's first human Prime?

He could not ponder this for much longer, as the Freedom stabbed the Providence near its cockpit and then immediately pulled back just before the suit exploded, taking the insane pilot with it. Seeing that he had finished his job there, Kira quickly turned to rejoin the others in doing what they could to stop anyone who was still foolish enough to continue fighting with the Decepticons, hoping that Optimus would be able to win his own battle as well.

As he went though, Kira looked back one more time and silently prayed that the nightmare of Rau Le Creuset had finally come to an end. He then refocused his attention forward and blasted off back towards his friends and allies, the whole time though he never noticed a strange purple glow envelope the remains of Le Creuset and his machine.

* * *

The core of GENESIS was a massive structure unlike anything any human had ever seen, especially when one considered the amount of Cybertronian technology that was used to create the massive Z.A.F.T. weapon. The walls were covered in what looked like circuit lines that seemed to pulse with a dark purple glow that one would normally only find in dark energon or Megatron's optics, numerous containers of the cyber matter formula were plugged into the machine across the ceiling and the floor like batteries, and in the center of the room was a massive cylindrical tower that glowed a bright blue as energon pulsed through it.

As he looked on at the sight from the Justice's cockpit, Athrun had to admit that were it any other place of any other thing that the sight of such technological marvels and multitude of colors would have been beautiful. This fact alone made it almost a shame to destroy it by destroying the Justice, but Athrun knew full well what monstrosity this was the core of and that gave him no reason to doubt what he was about to do. With his goal in mind, Athrun took a deep breath and opened the control panel that he would use to key in the command to begin the Justice's self-destruct sequence.

Before he could so much as hit one button on the control panel, Athrun heard Cagalli's voice call out to him, "Athrun stop running!"

Athrun instantly turned and saw the Strike Rogue and Dreadwing approaching him at each of their top speeds. As soon as the two were close enough, Dreadwing assumed his robot form as Cagalli gave Athrun a teary smile and stated, "The hardest battle is to keep living."

Athrun gasped in shock at what he knew Cagalli meant by this, and was about to argue that if he did not do this GENESIS would destroy the Earth, when Dreadwing cut in saying, "And it is a battle that seems to be approaching its end for me."

That got the attention of both Athrun and Cagalli, both fearing what the former Decepticon meant by that statement. "What are you saying Dreadwing," Athrun asked.

Dreadwing's only response was to pull out multiple explosives and toss them around the room. Most of the devices landed on the central pillar in the middle of the room while the others hit the cyber matter tanks that were plugged into the floor and ceiling. As he continued to toss the devices around the room Dreadwing explained, "With enough of these explosives in key positions, I'll be able to destroy GENESIS just as easily if not more so than the Justice's self-destruct would. Unfortunately the detonator will only be able to send a signal if it is inside of GENESIS."

Now Athrun knew what Dreadwing meant by that. "Dreadwing you can't! There must be another way for this to be done! At least if I use the Justice's self-destruct I'll be able to escape with you and Cagalli."

"What's wrong," Cagalli asked, not quite understanding the meaning herself.

"Dreadwing's planning to sacrifice himself to destroy GENESIS," Athrun answered grimly.

At this news, Cagalli's eyes widened in shock as she too began to shout out protests of why Dreadwing could not do this. Dreadwing was not going to hear any of their protests against his decision and simply argued, "I believe there will come a day when you will need the power of the Justice again Athrun Zala, so it would only make sense to save as much of the suit as you can for when that day comes. Don't worry; the explosives are on a small time delay that will give me enough time to escape as well. I'll be right behind you both as soon as I activate the devices."

Before anyone could say anymore they all found themselves being assaulted by a barrage. Turning to the source, they saw that Slipstream, Thundercracker, and Skywarp had been waiting for them inside of GENESIS in case something like this happened. Cagalli and Athrun moved their mobile suits to counter attack when Dreadwing suddenly raised his left arm in front of them, with his sword in hand. "Go on and escape now! I'll hold them off," Dreadwing told them.

"We can't leave you like this! They'll tear you apart if you fight them alone," Athrun argued.

"If they remove even one of the charges before they are triggered then it won't matter at all," Dreadwing countered. Dreadwing lowered his helm, knowing full well that the chances of his survival were no longer as high as they previously were before he turned to Athrun and said, "Athrun, if I don't make it I have a message that I would like you to deliver to Miss Lacus Clyne."

Athrun wanted to argue, but when he saw the look in Dreadwing's eyes he could not do anything other than nod in agreement to what he was asking. Dreadwing then told Athrun, "This message is for both you and Kira as well Athrun. Tell them this is my choice, but I do not make it out of honor or because I owe someone something. I decided to do this because I wanted to do so and because I wanted to protect my friends." Dreadwing then paused for a moment before adding, "Oh and tell Optimus Prime and the others that I would've been proud to have been called one of the Autobots."

Athrun nodded in acceptance and understanding of Dreadwing's words as he said, "Alright Dreadwing, but please do what you can to come back alive." The Justice and the Strike Rogue then both blasted out of GENESIS at their maximum thruster speed before Dreadwing could answer, just missing the former Decepticon's grateful smile as he pulled out his gun with his free hand.

"Do you really think you can stop us alone Dreadwing," Slipstream mocked. "You've become such a soft, pathetic fool."

"That may be true Slipstream, but for the first time in my life I am fighting for what I believe in and what I want to fight for," Dreadwing retorted as he charged at the three Seeker siblings. "And if I must fight you to do so, THEN I'LL TAKE YOU ALL ON!"

With that, Dreadwing blasted ahead at full speed, firing his cannon at the three as he went and causing them to scatter. Dreadwing the swung his cannon like a club and knocked Skywarp off balance before landing a powerful slice with his sword across the black and purple Seeker's chest. He then spun around and proceeded to fire on Thundercracker just as he was charging up a Shockwave blast, and then charged in with a pair of slashes. This back and forth continued for another moment or so and it began to seem that Dreadwing would emerge victorious enough to escape and trigger the explosives, but that hope was quickly dashed when he was suddenly hit from behind by a Null Ray. Dreadwing turned to see the last trace of Slipstream speeding away with her Hyper Speed ability just before her two brothers began to bombard him from all sides.

Dreadwing was barely able to hold his ground due to the first Null Ray blast slowing him down a bit and then a number of continuous ones slowing him down even further until eventually the long range barrage stopped. Dreadwing thought they figured he was finished but was soon proven wrong when Thundercracker and Slipstream swooped in and sliced off his right leg and his sword arm. Dreadwing cried out in pain as he dropped his gun and fell to the ground, and then struggled to rise until Skywarp teleported on top of his and held him at point blank range.

"Looks like your efforts were in vain Dreadwing," Skywarp smirked, and his smug look was soon copied by his two siblings. They were all certain that they had their former ally beaten when suddenly Dreadwing chuckled and caused all three of them to raise an eyebrow at him.

"What's so funny," Slipstream demanded. Dreadwing merely opened the hand that he was previously holding his gun in to reveal the trigger for his bombs which had been activated. The Seeker siblings looked around frantically to see that every single explosive that Dreadwing had set were counting down to detonation and realized that sometime between when he was falling and then attempting to rise again, Dreadwing had managed to pull out the trigger and activate it.

"Unless you intend to die here with me, you and brothers might want to make whatever efforts you can to escape now bitch," Dreadwing spat at Slipstream. The female Seeker only growled in response before she led her two brothers towards the quickest exit in their jet forms.

Dreadwing attempted to rise again and upon finding he could not, he simply began to crawl towards the nearest exit as the explosions started going off around him. He was not doing this in a desperate attempt to escape, but rather because he wanted to make sure that he had enough time to complete all of his last thoughts.

"Lacus Clyne," Dreadwing moaned as he crawled. "Thank you for helping me to see the error of my ways and showing me that there are other ways to regain ones honor than just fighting to kill. Kira Yamato, I consider you to be a true warrior that I was proud to have fought beside, and of which I believe could have become a Prime had you been born on Cybertron. Optimus Prime, words cannot express my gratitude for what you had done for both myself and Skyquake, so I simply ask that you never falter in your fight for freedom and peace as thanks. Arcee of the Autobots, I'm glad that I was able to meet someone that I felt could understand me better than anyone else on Cybertron in you, even if you were my enemy at the time. Athrun Zala, you were one of the first humans I had ever met, and somewhere down the line you became more than simply a partner to me. You became my best friend, something that I had never truly had since my brother had perished. I thank you greatly for that."

Eventually Dreadwing had reached a hatch that he thought was far enough away to finish and simply laid back against the wall as he finished. "Goodbye Athrun…my friend…and thank you again…for everything…Farewell Autobots…til all are one."

With these final words, the inferno quickly consumed the Decepticon now truly turned Autobot as GENESIS was whipped out in the blast from within. Everyone outside of GENESIS, Decepticon, Autobot, and human all gasped in shock at the sight of this, while Athrun and Cagalli simply watched as it exploded but Dreadwing did not emerge from it. After another moment, it became clear to Athrun what had happened, and he could not stop the tears that came as he cried out the name of his friend. "DREADWING!"

Cagalli sat in her cockpit crying along with Athrun as she watched any sign of the former enemy of the Autobots vanish along with GENESIS until a welcoming voice called out, "Athrun, Cagalli, are you two alright?"

They both turned to see what was left of the Freedom approaching them and knew that it was Kira who had called out to them. Athrun could barely keep his sadness at bay as he meekly responded, "Kira…Dreadwing is…he's…"

Kira did not need his friend to finish as he knew what he was trying to say, and he quickly spun his head towards GENESIS, instantly knowing what had happened. Kira lowered his head in sadness before he looked back to his sister and childhood friend and said, "Come on guys. Let's get back to the others. Optimus should be right behind us at any minute."

Athrun simply nodded in agreement with this and allowed Cagalli to help the Freedom and the Justice back to their friends in the Four Ships Alliance as an announcement went out from the Clyne Faction member, Councilwoman Eileen Canaver, called out requesting that the Earth Forces meet with them for negotiations on a cease fire and that any Decepticons still in the area be driven away as quickly as possible.

Seeing that the tide had turned so far against them, Slipstream growled in annoyance as she reassumed her robot mode and radioed her leader asking, "Lord Megatron, the battle appears to be lost what should we do now?" After a moment of waiting, no reply ever came. "Lord Megatron do you read? Lord Megatron?"

* * *

From where their battle had been raging on, Megatron and Optimus could see GENESIS exploding and soon after they could hear the announcement that Councilwoman Eileen Canaver was making moments later and needless to say Megatron was not pleased with this development. In his anger and rage, Megatron rushed Optimus and hit him hard enough to cause Optimus to lose his grip on the Star Saber as he declared, "No it's not over yet! I'll crush you with my bare hands Optimus Prime!"

Soon enough, the battle between the two had resumed and now Megatron was simply swinging his regular sword at Optimus's remaining intact arm blade. Megatron attempted to fire his fusion cannon at Optimus, but the last Prime was quick to knock it aside before charging up his left arm blaster. Megatron recovered just in time to knock Prime's blaster away just as it fired and slashed Optimus's chest with his default sword. Optimus stumbled for only a moment as Megatron rushed him once again, but he was able to recover just in time to catch both of the Decepticon war lord's fist in his hands before he landed a hard head butt on Megatron's helm, causing Megatron to be the one who was disorientated this time.

Using Megatron's temporary moment of disorientation to his advantage, Optimus slammed every form of punch that was possible into Megatron until the Decepticon war lord was knocked up against what remained of a destroyed Z.A.F.T. ship and collapsed. Optimus then walked up slowly as he primed his arm blaster once again to deliver the final blow, when suddenly Megatron spun around and unleashed a powerful energy wave from his Dark Star Saber that he had ended up landing next to when he fell. The unexpected blast had knocked Optimus off his feet and sent him soaring across their battlefield until he found himself hanging down from the remains of another ship.

Before he could pull himself up, Optimus was met with the sight of Megatron moving to stand over him and raising the Dark Star Saber over his head to strike as he declared, "I would've waited an eternity for this. It's over Prime. Now prepare to join your scout in the AllSpark."

Megatron prepared to make the final blow when an unknown voice suddenly shouted out, "Megatron!" Megatron spun around to the source only to widen his eyes in shock the second he had turned all the way around. The reason for this was twofold, because the main reason was because he had been stabbed through the chest with the Star Saber sword but the other reason was because of who had stabbed him.

There before him stood a miraculously fully repaired Bumblebee, who was panting slightly from when he had grabbed the sword in his rush over to them, but the most surprising thing was when the scout actually _spoke_ saying, "You took my voice. You will never rob anyone of _anything_ ever again."

Megatron could barely raise the hand that he held his Dark Star Saber in before he ended up dropping the great sword and was then kicked off of the end of the Star Saber by Bumblebee and set adrift into space for parts that were yet unknown. Unknown to any of the three that were on this battlefield, a surprisingly slightly dismayed Starscream had seen what had transpired and found that he had to answer his sister's call saying, "Decepticons, the battle is indeed lost. Lord Megatron has fallen. Return to the _Nemesis_ and commence full retreat so that we may avenge our master another day."

Optimus only watched his former brother turned late foe floated away, barely registering Starscream taking off to the _Nemesis_ so that the remaining Decepticons could complete their full scale retreat, before a very familiar yellow and black armored hand reached out to him and helped pull him up. Once he was on his feet again, Optimus saw that he had not simply seen things and that Bumblebee was indeed standing before him alive and well. Optimus disengaged his battle mask to show an extremely grateful smile as he said, "Thank you old friend and I am glad to see that you still function. Let us return to our allies so that we may learn of what happened with the rest of the battle and tell them of the fortune that has befallen us this day."

Bumblebee simply nodded, feeling that he should not say all that much just yet for some odd reason that he did not understand, and then simply leapt up after Optimus as the two made their way back to their waiting allies, who would receive a great deal of good news indeed.

* * *

Kira and the others had already returned to the _Eternal_ and were now greeting the rest of their friends on the ship after they had all come over via the Ground Bridge. Surprisingly, even Yzak had come with the group and Dearka, Nicol, and Athrun were all eager to introduce him to Kira and Cagalli, the former more so than the latter. After he was told who Kira was, Dearka and Athrun half expected the silver haired boy to explode much like Dearka had when he first found out the truth about Kira, but instead Yzak surprised them by simply scoffing and saying, "You know I guess I shouldn't be too surprised after all that's happened. I mean only someone who was such good friends with Athrun could've given me such a hard time."

Kira and the others who were just meeting Yzak for the first time simply looked at him strangely before Dearka finally chuckled saying, "Don't worry that's just Yzak for ya. Always has to look tough to others."

"Shut up Dearka! I don't need to look tough when I already am," Yzak retorted, only getting everyone to start laughing at the two of them.

Everyone's attention was soon averted by Flay coming through the Ground Bridge and tackling Kira in a tight embrace as she cried into his shoulder saying, "I'm sorry Kira. I'm so sorry for everything. For all the things I said, for how I treated you and tried to…" Flay could barely bring herself to say anymore than that as she just broke down into sobs.

Seeing that the girl truly meant what she was saying, Kira smiled and simply patted her on the back as he softly said, "It's alright now Flay. I forgive you. I just hope that we can be friends again."

Flay finally let go of Kira and dried her tears as she nodded in acceptance of this. A minute later, the door to the hangar had opened and Lacus rushed in right towards Kira. Before Kira could say anything Lacus had already embraced him and cut him off with a kiss. Everyone looked on in wide-eyed shock as Athrun's ex-fiancé kissed Kira so passionately until Cagalli cleared her throat saying, "Ahem, uh Lacus. Would you mind not embarrassing my little brother in front of everyone here like that?"

Lacus and Kira immediately broke off their kiss, and before Lacus could give any kind of apology Kira simply held her close saying, "Hey, you don't hear me complaining do you?" At Lacus's brilliant smile, Kira then turned to Cagalli before he asked, "And what's this little brother stuff? For all we know I could be your big brother."

"Oh shut up! There is no way you're the older one here," Cagalli snapped.

"Wait, wait I'm confused here. Why are you and Miss Cagalli saying that you're Cagalli's brother Kira," Flay interrupted.

"Yeah I think we all missed the memo on that one," Dearka added.

"Did you know about this Athrun," Nicol asked.

"Yep," Athrun replied as he wrapped Cagalli in his arms, getting the blonde's face to turn crimson. "My childhood best friend turned out to be my new girlfriend's brother."

Now everyone was shocked by this since this was the first any of them heard of Athrun and Cagalli dating, but Cagalli just smiled and planted a kiss of her own on Athrun. Hoping to turn everyone away from the lovey-dovey stuff, Yzak cleared his throat as he turned to Flay and said, "So, I didn't expect to see you again, especially so soon."

Flay turned to him and asked, "You're Mister Yzak right?"

Yzak simply smirked as he replied, "Just Yzak's fine, and these are my pals Dearka, and Nicol. I'm sure Kira will give you a more proper introduction to Athrun later on."

Nicol barely registered Athrun and Yzak starting up a playful banter on how Athrun noticed how Yzak seemed to indicate that they were not pals as he walked up to Flay and said, "So yeah…I'm Nicol Amalfi."

"Nice to meet you Nicol. I'm Flay Allster," Flay replied.

"So uh…I heard from Kira you're not a big fan of Coordinators and well…"

Flay simply smiled at Nicol for a minute before she placed a hand on his shoulder and softly said, "Actually, I've recently had a major change of mind on that."

"Oh really? Well that's uh…that's good," Nicol said, clearly becoming more nervous than he already was. "So uh…do you like music?"

Flay simply giggled at Nicol's nervousness before giving her reply while Dearka smirked at the sight of potential sweet payback, only to have Miriallia loop her arm around his with a smile. The tenderness of the moment was soon broken by a communiqué from Optimus as the last Prime said, "Optimus to Autobots and all allied forces. We have gained great victory in our war with the Decepticons along with the end of the Bloody Valentine War. Megatron has perished and Starscream is leading the remaining forces in a full retreat on the _Nemesis_. We are returning to the_Omega II_ now."

"Well done Optimus, but you should know that…wait. Did you say 'we'," Ratchet asked from the _Omega II_'s hangar where all the Autobots had ended up gathering to wait for their leader.

"Yes I did old friend. I am returning with the one who dealt the final blow to Megatron, and who we thought we had lost. Bumblebee is returning with me," Optimus replied. As soon as everyone heard that, gasps and cheers of joy rang throughout both the three human ships and the _Omega II_ with Arcee's seeming to be the loudest despite how soft it really was.

A moment later, the two Autobots had landed in the _Omega II_'s hangar and every Autobot saw Bumblebee was indeed alive and well with excited cheers and pats on the back. Soon enough they were all able to calm themselves down enough to allow Arcee to approach Bumblebee and hold him tight in a hug as she cried, "I was worried sick about you, you big scrap-headed idiot!"

Bumblebee simply held Arcee in a soft embrace of his own as he softly said, "Hey it's alright Arcee. I told you I would keep my promise."

That caused every Autobot to freeze and Arcee to widen her eyes in shock as she whispered, "What…did you just say?"

"I said that I kept my promise to you," Bumblebee replied. Arcee then stepped back, her eyes still wide and one hand over her mouth in disbelief while Bumblebee just gave everyone a confused look wondering why they were all staring at him.

"Bumblebee," Ratchet gasped, unable to finish the sentence.

"Your voice…," Arcee then finished.

"My voice? What're you g…my voice," Bumblebee exclaimed, finally realizing that he was in fact speaking. The scout then lowered his battle mask to reveal an overjoyed smile as he grasped Ratchet and Arcee in a tight hug as he exclaimed, "Ratchet, Arcee, I have my pipes back!"

"Yes. Yes we noticed," Ratchet chuckled happily at how enthusiastic the scout was.

"But how's this possible," Elita asked from where she was next to Optimus.

"It must have been the residual cyber matter I fell into," Bumblebee answered.

"It is the only possible explanation," Ratchet agreed.

"Now that's what I call one seriously sweet miracle," Jazz said.

"Or to put it another way, it would seem the old field medic made good after all," Optimus stated, and it was a statement that everyone agreed with.

Before anymore could be said, Arcee grabbed Bumblebee in another hug as she looked into his eyes and stated, "And I think it's time I did something I should've done a long time ago."

Before Bumblebee could ask what she meant by that, Arcee planted her lips on his making his eyes widen in shock before he returned the unexpected kiss. After Arcee broke off the kiss she simply gave Bumblebee a loving look as she stated, "Once we get back to Earth, you owe me a drive."

Bumblebee stuttered for a minute which led Wheeljack to joke, "Uh oh. I think you broke his voice box again Arcee."

"You okay there Bee," Bulkhead asked.

A minute later, Bumblebee had a love struck smile on his face as he simply said, "What a woman." He then paused for a minute and asked, "Wait isn't the guy supposed to ask the girl on a date normally?"

"Oh Bumblebee, you want to go on a date with me," Arcee asked in mock surprise. Bumblebee just stuttered in confusion before Arcee silenced him saying, "I would love to."

With that she began to head back to the bridge with Jazz, Ratchet, and Ironhide as Bumblebee simply looked at the others and asked, "What just happened?"

Optimus and Elita both looked at each other before they simply chuckled and Elita said, "Don't worry Bee. You'll get used to this kind of thing soon enough. Maybe."

Before Bumblebee could get even more confused, Optimus contacted the other ships and stated, "Optimus to _Archangel_, _Kusanagi_, and _Eternal_. As soon as we have finished here we should depart from the area and make our way either to Earth or to another location should anyone believe it necessary."

"Roger that," the three ship commander replied.

Athrun then remembered something important that he had to tell them. "Optimus, Lacus. Dreadwing didn't make it, but he wanted me to tell you guys and the others 'This is my choice, but I do not make it out of honor or because I owe someone something. I decided to do this because I wanted to do so and because I wanted to protect my friends.'"

At this news, everyone sobered up and hung their heads sadly at the realization of the loss of Dreadwing, but they all felt a bit happy for him knowing that he had made the choice to do what he did on his own. Everyone simply stood in silence for a moment praying for Dreadwing and hoping that he would be with his brother again in the next life. As they did so, they all had the same thought going out to Dreadwing. _Your sacrifice will not be forgotten Dreadwing. We would have been proud to call you a fellow Autobot_.

After everyone had effectively held the silence for a reasonable period of time, Bumblebee decided to lighten the mood a bit, and he quickly gained a glad smile as he tapped his own comm. link and called out, "Hey Kira, let's hope these guys finish up with what they need to do here quickly so that we can get back to Earth soon."

At the sound of an unknown voice reaching their ears, Kira and the others were all quickly confused. This confusion was quickly voiced when Dearka asked, "What…who said that?"

Cagalli's eyes then widened in realization as she asked, "Kira was that…?"

Kira did not say anything in reply as he simply tapped his own comm. link and replied to the initial call, "Bee, is that you?"

"You know it pal," Bumblebee replied proudly. His tone then turned teasing as he stated, "Oh and before I forget, if you plan asking me to act as your ride when you take Lacus on a date, please try not to start making out with her in the back seat."

Kira and Lacus both gained brilliant blushes at this statement as everyone else just widened their eyes in shock. "Hey Bumblebee," Kira protested.

"Ah, ah, ah Kira. Arcee already gets to have her bit of payback on Cagalli for you guys making fun of me and her, so it's only fair that I get my fair share of payback on you," Bumblebee interrupted.

Everyone just erupted into laughter at that statement, including Kira and Lacus after a moment, and they all soon went back to their assigned posts so that they could finalize whatever they needed to in order to ensure that the future of Earth, at least for the moment, would be a bright one.

* * *

**_AN: For those of you who recognized that I effectively brought in one of Transformers Prime's most epic scenes from season 3, arguably of the entire series when I wrote that final part of Optimus and Megatron's battle, give yourself a pat on the back and a round of applause. For those of you who thought I would bring Bumblebee back later as Stinger, please never think of thinking of such a thing again. Honestly, that punk was nothing more than a Decepticon wannabe knockoff in Transformers Age of Extinction__, a fact that Bumblebee himself believes, but don't think that Stinger won't be making an appearance at all, because he will. Also, yes I killed off Dreadwing, but as much as I hate to admit this, I was planning on doing this from the beginning, but I dare you to try and tell me that this time around was NOT better than what happened to him in Transformers Prime. Anyway, now that I've said my piece on that, don't think that this is the end of the story, because there's still one more chapter left before this story is effectively ended before it is ready to hand things off to its sequel, so for the preview I shall simply say..._**

**_Next time on Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Prime…_****Epilogue: A New Era For All****_._**

**_Please read and review, and I'll see you in the final chapter!_**


	29. Epilogue: A New Era For All

_**AN: And so we come to the close of this first story. The aftermath of what had happened after Jachin Due, what became of our heroes and their enemies, and so for now I simply say to you, enjoy the final chapter of Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Prime.**_

_**I do not own anything from any of the Gundam or Transformers franchises or any other franchise mentioned in this story.**_

* * *

**Epilogue: A New Era For All**

A few weeks after the battle of Jachin Due, it seemed that peace had finally come to Earth after the long year of war that it had previously faced, and it was thanks in no small part to the Four Ships Alliance and the Autobots. Of course the latter of the two had requested that their involvement be kept as secret as possible and as such all those who knew of the Autobots true existence were given a gag order to keep quiet about them. Admittedly it did not do anything about the civilians that had seen them, but most of the stories about the warriors of Cybertron that had spread around in the civilian part of the world had quickly fallen into mere stories and rumors, essentially turning the Transformers into an urban legend. When asked if it was really better this way, Optimus simply said that for the moment the Autobots would be better off living among the humans by simply hiding in plain sight.

The only ones who knew the full truth about the Autobots were the citizens of Orb, but that was unavoidable given how they had fought to defend the neutral nation and many people had saw them doing so. The fact that the Autobots were so welcomed in Orb by most of its people and government leaders was reason enough for them to continue using Alpha I as their main base of operations as they patrolled the Earth in order to keep an eye out for the Decepticons should they ever return. In fact, it was actually Cagalli, who had begun preparing to take over her father's previous position as Orb's chief representative, that had insisted that they remain in Orb, an offer that none of the Autobots were going to pass up.

As for the other human allies of the Autobots, Kira and Lacus had actually decided to live together at Reverend Malchio's small house in Onogoro to help him look after the orphaned children that Malchio had taken in, while Cagalli had allowed Athrun to live with her at the Athha estate. Both couples had received the reasonable amount of teasing from Arcee and Bumblebee, but it was to be expected from the new couple among the Autobots. Despite the recent amount of work that they had to deal with that had followed the end of the war, the four were soon able to get together for a meal with the children that Kira and Lacus were looking after.

The night they did was actually the night of the second day of negotiations between the PLANTs and the Earth Forces, in which they were discussing matters concerning appropriate measures of self-defense strength. "Still it really is a hard thing to do," Cagalli said when the matter was brought up over dinner. "Orb was completely ravaged by the war and that is why they truly understand the foolishness of war and how precious peace is. However, there are still countries that don't."

"'If you don't trust the other person, then don't lower your gun.' It's like that isn't it," Lacus asked. Cagalli could only sigh sadly in response as confirmation. "First we must both lower our guns or else…"

"Even though we should already understand this…all of us," Cagalli finished for Lacus. No one was willing to let the sour mood spoil the whole evening though, and the rest of the dinner was finished in happiness.

Sometime afterwards, while the girls had offered to do the dishes with the children, Athrun and Kira had both gone down to the beach to gaze up at the night sky, which was filled with shooting stars as it had been for days. "It's strange, isn't it," Kira asked his friend after a brief period of silence. "Why am I still alive? Why am I able to eat? Why am I able to sleep? Is it because I am still alive?"

Athrun looked over to his friend with an understanding look as he replied, "Everyone's thinking the same thing, Kira. Including me, but this may be our way to make up for things."

Kira smiled to Athrun, simply nodding in agreement, and the two resumed their brief stargazing before they returned to the house where they found Cagalli and Lacus stargazing as well from the porch with the kids. Right when the two boys had arrived though, the sound of engines gained everyone's attention, and they all turned to see a familiar yellow and black striped sports car pulling up alongside an also familiar midnight blue motorcycle that had a female rider aboard who was clad in all black and a helmet with a tinted visor. "Hey it's Bumblebee and Arcee," one of the kids shouted as the children all ran over to greet the two Autobots.

Once the kids had approached and Arcee had de-activated her holo-form rider, the two Autobots transformed and greeted the kids with bright smiles on their faces. Eventually, Bumblebee managed to make his way over to the two couples that were simply smiling at how enthusiastic the kids were about seeing the Autobots and said, "Hey guys. I hope we're not interrupting anything."

"No not at all Bumblebee," Lacus replied.

"You know, I can't help but feel that it's a bit weird how I'm still getting used to hearing your actual voice instead of a series of beeps and whirrs," Cagalli commented.

"Well you're not the only one, believe me," Bumblebee reassured the blonde.

"So what you brings you guys here anyways," Kira asked. "Did something happen?"

"Yeah. Jazz decided to throw a victory party over at base and forgot to send out invitations ahead of time," Bumblebee half-joked. The reason why it was not entirely a joke was because it was technically true. Jazz had decided to throw a party to celebrate the fact that they had at least ended the Bloody Valentine War, but since everyone had been so busy with what they were doing after Jachin Due, including the Autobots, the decision to do so was not made until that morning, and that leads us to where Bumblebee and Arcee are now.

"You guys don't have to come if you don't want to," Arcee told them. "But Jazz was insistent on you four coming, and he also wanted us to let you know that he was hoping to get a lot of the others to come as well."

The four looked amongst themselves for a minute before Kira replied, "Sure thing, but it will have to wait until after the kids have worn themselves out enough to get to bed."

Bumblebee and Arcee nodded in agreement with this, and a minute later, said kids were back to talking their audio receptors off and trying to get them to play with them. Bumblebee was actually the only one of the two to agree and soon enough he was off playing with the kids himself. The sight of this made everyone think that Bumblebee was actually a little kid with how he was playing around with the little tykes, but it was more of a humorous sight than it was anything else. The scout played a small game with the kids in which the kids were pretending to be superheroes fighting against a large metal monster, i.e. Bumblebee, and he was really going all out with overacting just with fake screams alone and a few "villainous" monologues that Arcee could have sworn that he was using his Megatron impression for.

Soon after this, he decided to play a game with them that the kids called "Autobots and Decepticons". Lacus explained that they came up with it after seeing the Autobots fight against Starscream's forces in the news. In this game, the kids had all said that they were to be Autobots defending their home base, which was a small grouping of trees nearby, from a Decepticon attack, and that Bumblebee was their commanding officer. Bumblebee asked if that meant he was Optimus Prime in this game, to which all the kids gave an excited yes. What followed this was a surprisingly accurate impression of Optimus on Bumblebee's part that was still playful enough to be appropriate for the kids game, and that in and of itself had Kira, Athrun, Cagalli, and Lacus laughing like no tomorrow.

All in all, it was really something impressive to see Bumblebee playing around with kids like this, because it was a sight that brought smiles to everyone's faces.

* * *

Eventually the kids did finally run out of both games to play and energy to stay awake, and Reverend Malchio, Kira, and Lacus were quick to put them to bed. After ensuring that the kids were all tucked in and that Malchio would be able to watch out for the little ones, the four humans were quick to head off to the Autobot base with Arcee and Bumblebee, with Cagalli and Athrun riding on Arcee, and Kira and Lacus sitting comfortably in Bumblebee. This granted Kira a moment to see Athrun nervously holding onto Cagalli as she was in front on the motorcycle Autobot, and made him chuckle at the sight of such a fearless mobile suit pilot so nervous.

Once they had arrived at the base, they looked to see that some of the others were already there, while some of the Autobots were not in the base. Athrun immediately called out to his friends Nicol, Dearka, and Yzak, who were talking with Hound and Bulkhead about something. Turning around, the three smiled to see their former commander as he and the other three approached. "So Yzak, how's the world of politics," Athrun asked.

"It's a pain! I don't know how my mother put up with it every day," the silver haired man complained. As evidenced by the fact that he was wearing a suit similar to his mother's old one, Yzak was serving on the PLANT supreme council as his mother's temporary replacement while the negotiations had been going on, and while he was more than happy to help out with making sure that the peace negotiations went well, the former pilot of the Duel would not be lying when he said that he would rather be fighting against Megatron than dealing with the paperwork that was involved.

"Yeah, yeah we get it already Yzak," Dearka moaned, having been the one to listen to Yzak's complaining ever since his friend had taken up the position. Dearka was also wearing his Z.A.F.T. red uniform, which just proved that he and Yzak had been picked up from the PLANTs as soon as whatever meeting they were in had ended.

Cagalli then walked over and placed a hand on Yzak's shoulder and simply asked, "It's the paperwork, right?"

"What else," Yzak demanded.

"I feel your pain Yzak. I really do," Cagalli sympathized, which got everyone to laugh at the two young politicians.

"Say Nicol, I heard you were going to be performing your first real concert in a while soon," Athrun then asked his green haired friend, who was the only one of the former Le Creuset team that was not in uniform. Nicol's outfit was really just a basic pair of black pants with a red t-shirt and a green jacket.

"Yeah in a few weeks actually," Nicol replied proudly. "I'm actually going to be debuting a new song that I wrote in it."

"That sounds wonderful Nicol," Lacus congratulated.

"Thanks. I was actually planning on letting you guys hear it at the party once everyone gets here," Nicol revealed. "I really hope everyone likes it."

"I'm sure that they will sweetie," a female voice then said, and everyone's attention was immediately drawn to Flay Allster, dressed in her old pink dress that she wore during her time on Heliopolis, as she came up behind Nicol and wrapped her arms around him. Flay had ended up deciding to move to the PLANTs and start studying fashion design at one of the schools in the hourglass shaped colonies, but the real reason was so that she would not have to have a long distance relationship with Nicol.

"I still can't believe you guys are going out now," Kira stated with a small smile

"That makes two of us actually," another new voice said from behind Kira. Kira turned to see the smiling face of Sai Argyle, who wore a black t-shirt, white jeans, a red coat, and his usual orange-tinted glasses, come up onto the platform alongside Miriallia, who was dressed in the same outfit she wore when she and Kira met Dearka and Athrun in the caves that they had found the Aerialbots in. Coming up from behind them was none other than Ironhide and Elita One as they transformed from their respective vehicle modes.

"Hey Sai," Kira called out happily as he ran over and gave his friend a high-five. "How's life in the computer programming business."

"Well it's definitely more relaxing to program something when there aren't explosions going off around you every few minutes or so," Sai joked, getting a laugh out of both boys.

Miriallia had immediately raced over to Dearka and planted a small kiss on his cheek, leading the blonde boy to ask, "If that's the kind of greeting I get after not seeing you for two weeks, then how long do I have to be away before I get something other than a cheek?"

"Don't push your luck mister," Miriallia warned him, but with the way she was smiling, it was hard to tell if she was joking or not.

"And yet you guys are saying my relationship with Nicol is weird," Flay commented.

Another few minutes later, the Aerialbots had arrived with Murdoch, Kisaka, Erica, Waltfeld, and Aisha, and with Jazz and Ratchet soon entering the room, everyone was quick to realize that only ones who were still missing were Optimus, Murrue, Natarle, and Wheeljack. "So is Wheeljack going to get Miss Murrue and Miss Natarle," Nicol finally asked.

"'Fraid not kid," Waltfeld replied somewhat sadly. "I'm afraid that Wheeljack's actually staying close by to Murrue and Natarle back at our place for the moment in case the two need someone to talk to."

"The two haven't been doing all that well since…you know," Aisha stated, and everyone knew she was referring to Mu La Flaga's death. The Autobots knew it really affected Wheeljack when he lost his friend, but the sword wielding Wrecker seemed be getting better ever since he started spending time parked outside the house that Waltfeld, Aisha, and the two former commanders had settled into in Orb. Waltfeld and Aisha had allowed Murrue and Natarle a place as a way of helping them have someone close by if they ever needed to talk, and both women were extremely grateful for that.

The death of the Hawk of Endymion had hit everyone really hard to be honest. Murdoch had gone so far as to comment that there were days when he woke up half expecting the late former commander to start demanding that he get whatever machine Mu was piloting at a given point in time ready for action, but all the same it was not the same for everyone else as it was for Murrue and Natarle, both of whom had grown close to the man who could make the impossible possible. Now that is not to say that Natarle had feelings for La Flaga like Murrue did, but rather she thought of him as a kind of older brother figure in her life that she could look to for strength when she needed it.

Figuring that they needed to divert the conversation away from this sadness, Erica quickly asked, "And where's Optimus at?"

"He's doing something in his quarters," Ratchet replied. "He wouldn't say what it was beyond that it was extremely important."

"Well isn't he going to join us," the chief engineer of Morgenroete asked.

"I wouldn't bet on it. Primes don't party," Arcee replied.

"Oh we'll see about that," Elita argued as she quickly marched off to force…uh persuade her sparkmate to come and join the party for a moment.

A short while after Elita had gone to get Optimus, Jazz had decided that everyone that was going to come was now here and immediately cranked up some music that everyone could start dancing to. Of course, Jazz was the only one to immediately start dancing himself, as everyone else was just nervous about it. Eventually, Lacus and Cagalli had dragged Kira and Athrun respectively out to bust a few moves which led most of the rest of the human members of the party to join in soon after. Seeing one of those people just sitting off on the side, Miriallia was quick to call out, "Come on Yzak. Show us some of your dance skills."

"No," Yzak immediately responded with a huff.

"Leave him be babe. It's not his fault he can't dance," Dearka then said, getting himself a mild, playful glare from Miriallia at his calling her babe.

"Shut it Dearka! I can so dance," Yzak then shouted.

"I'm hearin' a lot more talkin' than I'm seein' walkin'," Jazz then retorted smoothly. "So if you want us to believe it, then show us whatcha got."

"Oh alright, fine," Yzak huffed. He then got up and started to do the only dance he actually knew how to do.

"Of course. The robot," Nicol chuckled.

"If you think that's funny, then you should check out the Autobot doing the robot," Murdoch then told him as he jabbed his thumb in the direction of Bumblebee, who was doing just as Murdoch said. The sight of this was enough to get everyone to pause for a moment in order to get control of their laughter at the sight for a minute.

As soon as they had, they were all about to resume their dance session when Kira noticed Elita all but dragging Optimus into the room, and he was surprised to see that the last Prime actually seemed nervous. Thinking quickly, Kira ran over to Jazz and asked him to play a slow song as he indicated the two sparkmates. Jazz threw Kira a thumbs up and immediately did as asked. The effect was almost instant, as all the couples were soon the only ones left on the dance floor to move along and sway to and fro as the song played, but none was more noticeable than Optimus and Elita as the former had a brilliant smile on his face while the latter rested her head against his chest. Seeing what Kira had done brought a smile to Lacus's face as she soon mimicked Elita's action and rested her own head against Kira while Cagalli did the same with Athrun. To put it simply, the dance part of this little party was probably one of the most memorable parts of the night.

Much later into the night, Nicol had brought out a portable piano that he had brought with him so that he could perform his new song, which he revealed had a few lyrics and also included a part with a surprise additional singer. After taking a moment to compose himself and allow everyone to settle down enough, Nicol began playing a simple tune as he began to sing.

_"__After all is said and done, you never walk you never run. You got the moves, you know the streets, break the rules, take the heat."_

The next minute, his tempo picked up as a guitar joined in as Dearka came around from behind where he was hiding and started singing as well.

_"__Your fear's overcome, trapped in a place, you never thought you'd be so hard to face. You're thinkin 'why does life have to be so hard', and you can't believe you've been dealt this card. Took so long to get here, you wonder how. You gotta take control, the time is now. You know you can be strong, you remember the time when you had it all together, you go back in your mind."_

After that Nicol took over again before they both sang the chorus together, and it continued in such a pattern for the rest of the song.

_"__You're at your best when the going gets rough. You've been put to the test, but it's never enough."_

_ "__You got the touch. _

_You got the power._

_When all hell's breaking loose, you're in the eye of the storm._

_You got the touch._

_You got the power._

_You know that when things get too tough."_

"I didn't know Dearka could play guitar," Athrun commented to Yzak.

"Me neither. I think he only just recently picked it up," Yzak replied.

_ "__You never bend, you never break. You seem to know just what it takes. It's in the blood, it's in the will. It's in the mighty hands of steal."_

_ "__Reach inside yourself, find who you really are. You know it's for real, you can win this war. They try to put you down, but you gotta believe in yourself when you are feeling like they're trying to deceive. The heart of you, even though you feel the pain. You never give up because the hope remains. You stand your ground, you're fighting fire with fire when coming out on top is your only desire."_

_ "__You never give in when your back's to the wall. Gonna fight to the end, and you're taking it all."_

_ "__You got the touch._

_You got the power._

_When all hell's breaking loose, you're in the eye of the storm._

_You got the touch._

_You got the power._

_When all hell's breaking loose, you're in the eye of the storm._

Dearka then broke out into a guitar solo for a moment, while Kira leaned over to whisper to Lacus, "I still think you're the best singer there is."

Lacus giggled at Kira for this and simply replied, "Thanks Kira, but I think I might have a little competition after this."

_"__You got the touch._

_You got the power._

_When all hell's breaking loose, you're in the eye of the storm._

_You got the touch._

_You got the power._

_You know that when things get too tough…_

Seeing that the song had ended, everyone immediately erupted into an applause and the two performers immediately took a bow. "How'd you come up with that Nicol," Athrun asked.

"Let's just say that a lot of the events from the war were a big inspiration to me," Nicol answered as he cast a small side glance to the Autobots.

A short while later, the party had degraded into basic casual conversation among a few groups of people that never stayed the same for very long before one or two of the people in the group moved on to talk with someone else. Eventually, Kira and Lacus found themselves off on the side with Optimus and Elita as Kira asked, "Has there been any sighting of the Decepticons?"

"There hasn't been so much as a sighting of them at one of the energon mines on Earth," Elita replied. Shortly after the negotiations for a cease fire had begun, it was decided that all energon mines would be overseen by the Autobots, for obvious reasons, and anyone who discovered new sources of energon were to report them right away. However, given all that had happened, and how much of humanity's technology had been affected by the life blood of all Cybertronians, Optimus highly doubted that would remain the case for long.

"Is it really necessary to hunt them down like this since Megatron perished in the last battle of the war," Lacus then asked.

"I am afraid so Lacus Clyne," Optimus replied solemnly. "While he is certainly no Megatron, Starscream is a capable leader for the Decepticons. Even so, there is no predicting what Starscream ever plans, which is all the more reason why we must locate the remaining Decepticons soon."

Lacus and Kira both nodded in understanding, but they still felt it was sad that the Autobots were still fighting an enemy that should be all but defeated now that their leader was lost to them. Even so, Kira knew that despite the fact the Autobots lacked the means to capture any of the Decepticons or a way to transport them to a proper prison on Cybertron, the Autobots would one day put a stop to the Decepticons once and for all. All of these thoughts eventually led Kira to wonder aloud, "I wonder what the Decepticons are doing wherever they are right now."

"I cannot answer that Kira," Optimus replied. "But I do know that no matter what threat they bring if and when they eventually return to Earth, that we will be waiting here, ready for them."

* * *

Somewhere deep in space, Starscream was strolling through the _Nemesis_ as Soundwave, Knockout, and Slipstream flanked him from either side. Soundwave had been there merely to confirm everything that was being discussed, as was one of his duties as the eyes and ears of the Decepticons, while the other two were reporting on their forces' status.

"While most of our forces did manage to escape, we lost a good deal of vehicons and Insecticon drones, but naturally that won't be a problem since Sharpshot, Kickback, and Hardshell all made it," Knockout reported. "However, among our casualties, besides Lord Megatron, are Barricade and Junkheap, leaving Blackout as the only surviving Decimator among us. I am also sad to say that my faithful partner Breakdown suffered extensive damage from a battle with Ironhide, but he will make it."

Starscream nodded at this and then dismissed the Decepticon medic. He then turned to Slipstream and asked, "And what do you have to report?"

"Our brothers and I were able to save some of the synthetic energon and cyber matter within GENESIS, but it will only be of use if we can recreate the weapon that Z.A.F.T. had created, and there's something else you should know," Slipstream stated. At Starscream's nod to continued, the female Seeker said, "We've been in contact with our ally that we had thought lost during the final days of the war before our exodus from Cybertron. He reports that he, his ship, and all those under his direct command are ready to move when the time is right."

"Excellent," Starscream chuckled darkly, knowing that the revelation of this particular ally will prove to be quite the upset for the Autobots. He then moved to head for the bridge when Soundwave held out a hand to stop him. "There's some more bad news, isn't there?"

Slipstream nodded as she told her brother, "Our sensors have indicated that _he_ and his forces are heading for Earth."

Starscream snarled as he quickly realized what Slipstream meant when she mentioned this _he_. "Well then we have our ally's first task. We can't deal with _them_ ourselves just yet, or even out in the open, but it shouldn't be a problem that our ally's group can't handle."

Slipstream nodded and then simply moved to enter the bridge from another point as Starscream and Soundwave then entered the room, where nearly the entirety of the remaining Decepticon forces were waiting for them. As soon as he reached the appropriate point, Starscream spoke out to them all with a simple speech. "My fellow Decepticons, it is with a heavy spark that I inform you that what you have heard is true. Lord Megatron has perished in battle, betrayed by his own foolish pride. Do not think this means that our cause is lost though my fellow Decepticons, for so long as we remain, our master's cause lives on, and I promise you, we shall soon avenge our fallen master, for I am your leader now. All hail Starscream."

"All hail Starscream," the Decepticons all chanted in reply.

"I can't hear you," Starscream said in a sing-song tone.

"All hail Starscream!"

"One more time," Starscream then commanded.

"All hail Starscream!"

At the sight of her brother's antics, Slipstream just had to slap her forehead as she muttered to herself, "We're doomed."

* * *

In a secret base somewhere on Earth, a man known as Djibril, or more commonly to most Lord Djibril, was overseeing the operation of a man that his followers had recovered from the ruins of the battle of Jachin Due. The man in question was a very skilled pilot, but he knew that his personality would have to be dealt with, which was why he was having the doctors make sure that they did everything they could to ensure that this person was loyal to him. At the sound of the man stirring, Djibril walked over and asked, "How are you feeling commander?"

The blue eyed, blonde man looked at Djibril questioningly as he asked, "Where am I? More importantly, who are you, or for that matter who am I?"

"I am Lord Djibril, leader of the group known as Logos, and your commander who you've sworn loyalty to," Djibril replied. "Your name is Neo Roanoke. You're mobile suit was destroyed in a previous battle, but my doctors are doing everything they can to make you the man you once were, and just in time I might add."

"In time for what," the man Djibril called Neo asked.

"Your promotion and next assignment," Djibril replied with a devious smile. "I'll be contacting you once you've fully healed with the full details, but for now, congratulations Captain."

"Neo" simply nodded and Djibril left at that. As soon as he was in another room and certain he was alone, he started raving about how Azrael had screwed up so greatly with forming that so-called "alliance" with the Decepticon known as Starscream. Now he would have to do everything he could to ensure that Logos would face more profit from some other way while eliminating the wretched Coordinators, but this time, they would also have to rid the Earth of this new alien scourge that had come to their world called the Cybertronians. As he went on to rant about all this more vocally, a deep, dark chuckle reached his ears as an equally deep voice said, "It seems that we have something in common, wouldn't it?"

"Who's there?! Show yourself," Djibril demanded.

"As you wish," the voice replied. A moment later, a large, dark grey Cybertronian with muscular arms and legs and a face that seemed to be covered by a small glass screen with dark, green optics.

"If you're another Decepticon, I'm not interested in anything you have to say or offer," Djibril stated.

"I assure you, I am not a Decepticon. They are far too narrow minded and simplistic for my tastes, which is why I left them along with my followers," the Cybertronian stated.

"…Are you an Autobot then," Djibril then cautiously asked.

"Please do not insult me. I lead a group that is known as the Eradicons, and we are much more open minded than either of those two Cybertronian forces. We do seek some of the same things as Megatron did, but we think in a much broader aspect on how to accomplish the task."

"Why would I want to work with you then? It seems like it would just be repeating the mistake of allying with Starscream."

"Simple. I can eliminate the problems that you face. The problems known as the Decepticons, the Autobots, and Optimus Prime."

Djibril smirked at this. "Well then, perhaps you can tell me the name of the one who would hope to lead a force that would accomplish this?"

The Cybertronian smirked as he gave a small mock-bow before stating, "Lockdown my good man. My forces and I will take on any job…for the right price."

The two then smirked like maniacs at the prospects this new alliance would bring, and if anyone else on Earth knew of this, then if they were a good person they would find a shiver running up their spine at the thought of what these two would bring.

* * *

The night had grown quite late by the time the party at the Autobot base had finally started winding down, right to the point where it had become early morning, and nearly everyone had returned to their respective homes except for Kira and Lacus. At the moment the two were gazing out at the horizon as they saw the first signs of the sun beginning to rise. Both of them knew that this beautiful sight was a sign of many things to come as a new age dawned.

Kira then turned slightly to his left to gaze at something else on the nearby mountain top that he and Lacus were currently standing upon, and his gaze was soon followed by Lacus. The pink songstress saw that Kira had turned to look in the direction of where Optimus was standing as he too gazed at the sunrise. Lacus watched the last Prime for a moment with her boyfriend before she asked, "Do you know what he's doing over there Kira?"

Kira did not answer right away, as he continued to stare at the mighty warrior of Cybertron. As he did, he found himself thinking back to all the times that Optimus had been there for both him and for others, how he had selflessly thrown himself into many battles since he arrived on Earth both for his own people and humanity, and of how amazing it was that Optimus could still hold onto the hope that eventually the day would come when everyone lived together in peace; the day when all were one. As he remembered all this, Kira found himself silently agreeing with what Cliffjumper had said when he first saw the red Autobot in the desert so long ago. Optimus truly was a leader of the free galaxy, and more importantly he was a champion of freedom and peace.

Finally, Kira brought himself out of his thoughts as he answered Lacus's question saying, "He told me that he was going to be sending a message out."

"Oh I see. Did he say who he was sending it to," Lacus asked.

Kira nodded as he said, "To both friends who were looking for them, and to others who would intend to threaten our world."

Lacus smiled, understanding what kind of message it was now, and simply looked on at Optimus in the same contemplative gaze that Kira was still watching the last Prime with. Lacus felt that even though she did not know Optimus for as long as Kira and the others, he was definitely someone that she would consider to be a very precious and important friend to her. Maybe it was just something about Optimus Prime that made you want to trust him, believe in him, and follow him no matter where he may lead you, or maybe it was something about how he still believed in what he does after so much had happened. Lacus did not really care all that much, because she knew all she needed to know about Optimus Prime, the last Prime, leader of the Autobots, Cybertron's champion of peace, and now one of Earth's greatest heroes.

The two both simply stood there for another few minutes, watching the last Prime as he sent his message out across the stars, both thinking about how much he had done for them, their friends, and their world, until finally, Lacus finally let out a small yawn, showing just how tired she really was. At that point, Bumblebee had come over to them and said, "Come on you guys. I'll take you both home so you can rest up. Primus knows the two of you definitely deserve it after all that's happened."

"Thanks Bee," Kira stated sleepily, and with that Bumblebee transformed into his vehicle mode and drove the two home where they could get their much needed rest.

* * *

**Without a means of restoring Cybertron or even leaving this world, we Autobots now find ourselves residing among the humans of Earth, and we take strength in the bonds we have forged with our human friends and allies. I have witnessed their capacity for kindness, courage, and dreams for peace and I have found them to be true warriors, if not in body, then in spirit, and because of this, like us, there is more to them than meets the eye. Though we did not choose to be of Earth, it would seem that we are here to stay. My name is Optimus Prime, and I send this message to all my fellow Autobots who are scattered amongst the stars: We are here, we are waiting. To all those who would approach this planet with hostile intent, know this: we will defend ourselves. We will defend our friends. We will defend humanity. We will defend…our home.**

* * *

**THE END...for now.**

* * *

_**AN: Yes you heard right, that is the end for now, and thank you all for sticking with this story for so long. It's great to have so many people who enjoy my work so much. Now a few things I want to address here before it's officially over, yes Nicol and Dearka performed the Sam's theme of Stan Bush's The Touch, the reasoning for this is because it seemed appropriate for this story and while I'm sure some of you might have expected Lacus to sing it somehow having Nicol and Dearka perform the song just seemed more appropriate somehow.**_

_**On another note, as the old saying goes, evil never rests. Yes I have now set things up for a sequel to this story. Djibril is working with Lockdown and a group called the Eradicons, Neo Roanoke is preparing for action, and I'm sure you all know who he is if you've seen SEED Destiny, and the Decepticons have a secret ally, and if you try to guess who it is, please do so through a PM. Speaking of the Decepticons, I just had to throw in that little moment of Starscream's at the end because it is so funny. I swear that episode from season 2 of Transformers Prime is probably the one time I actually enjoyed a flashback episode. **_

_**Now one final thing before we go, I am afraid that I am going to have to take a small break from the Cybertron Cosmic Era for a bit. The reason being because I have been focusing all my efforts on this story and my others have not been given so much as one word for a new chapter. At the very least I want to at least post the first chapter of my newest idea, Gundam War Online, which some of you may have seen the teaser story for, before I start work on the sequel to this story so please don't hate me for the fact I won't be putting out the sequel right away. Don't think that I won't give you something to think about though. Here's a little something to tease you guys with, so need I say the words. Onto the preview!...**_

_**Two years have passed since the end of the Bloody Valentine War, and things seem to be peaceful for the moment, but an incident in Z.A.F.T. will change all of that. Now with the fate of the world and all the Autobots on Earth at stake, the world will turn to the Z.A.F.T. warship **_**Minerva_ and their ace pilots Shinn Asuka, Lunamaria Hawke, Ray Za Burrel, and a few old faces from the past war, and fighting alongside them will be an Autobot ship and a team of Autobots long thought lost ages ago. But is everything truly as it seems? Who is really in the right here? A battle unlike any other is about to erupt that will go so far as to change the very face of the war for Cybertron and have everyone wondering, who is the true Team Prime? Next time in the Cybertron Cosmic Era...Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Prime: Destiny Sentinels._**

**_Please read and review, hope to see you all read some of my other stories, including Gundam War Online when it finally gets posted, and otherwise I will see you all again in the next chapter of the Cybertron Cosmic Era!_**


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